Non-communicable diseases play a major role in the global burden of disease. By 2020, heart disease and stroke will become the leading causes of death and disability worldwide, with the number of fatalities projected to increase to more than 24 million by 2030. Three common cardiovascular diseases – heart arrhythmias (primarily atrial fibrillation or AF), heart failure (HF) and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) – cause much of this disability.
While major advances in the management of these diseases have been achieved, medical management of these cardiovascular patients remains challenging. The need to improve awareness, risk assessment, diagnosis, and treatment is measurable.
The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) is working to improve health by speeding up the development of, and patient access to, innovative medicines, particularly in areas where there is an unmet medical or social need. IMI is a partnership between the European Union (represented by the European Commission) and the European pharmaceutical industry (represented by EFPIA, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations). Its remit has expanded in the most recent call and SME’s and those focused on health informatics in particular ‘BIG DATA’ are encouraged to investigate this opportunity through the new Big Data for Better Outcomes Programme.
The IMI2 Big Data for Better Outcomes (BD4BO) programme aims to catalyse and support the evolution towards value-based and more outcomes-focused sustainable and therefore better quality healthcare systems in Europe, exploiting the opportunities offered by the wealth of emerging data from many evolving data sources by generating methodologies and data that will inform policy debates. The programme’s objectives are to maximise the potential of large amounts of data from variable, quickly-developing digital and non-digital sources which will be referred to as ‘big data’ in the context of this initiative.
Call deadline: 17th March 2016