1. EU-US collaboration in the life
sciences: perspectives from the NIH
Edward L. Trimble, MD, MPH
Center for Global Health
National Cancer
Institute, NIH, DHHS, USA

2. Contact information
• Ted Trimble: Center for Global
Health, National Cancer
Institute, NIH, DHHS, USA
• Email: tt6m@nih.gov

3. EU-US collaboration: Watson & Crick

4. What facilitates collaboration:
• We read the same journals
• We attend the same meetings
• We have visiting professors
• We exchange post-doctoral fellows
• We have the internet, email, Skype, etc
• We have models of global collaboration
– Human Genome Project
– International Cancer Genetics Consortium

5. Human Genome Project
• 1990-2003
• US funding: Department of Energy, NIH
National Human Genome Research Institute
• Europe: Wellcome Trust, France, Germany
• Asia: China, Japan

6. International Cancer Genome
Consortium
• To obtain a comprehensive description of
genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic
changes in 50 different tumor types and/or
subtypes which are of clinical and societal
importance across the globe
• Countries involved:
Australia, Canada, China, EU, France, Germany
, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, UK, US
• Website: http://www.icgc.org/

7. What hinders collaboration:
• Different funding mechanisms, review
schedules, and priorities
– FP7, NIH Research Project Grant (RPG) pool, etc
• Different regulations regarding clinical research
– EU Clinical Trials Directive, DHHS Office of Human
Research Protection, etc
• Availability of novel agents for joint clinical
studies
– Lack of mutual recognition of Good Manufacturing
Process (GMP), different pharmaceutical partners in
EU vs US

8. Examples of ongoing collaborations
• Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) Global Science Forum
– Working Group to Overcome Barriers to Greater
International Collaboration in Academic Clinical
Trials, chaired by Germany and Spain
• International Rare Disease Research
Consortium
– EU DG Research, NIH, Canadian Institutes of
Health Research

9. Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases
• Six major national research funding agencies
– Australian NHMRC, Canadian IHR, Chinese
AMS, Indian MRC, UK MRC, US NIH
• Focus on cardiovascular disease (heart attack and
stroke), type II diabetes mellitus, chronic
respiratory conditions, and certain common
cancers in low- and middle-income countries and
among low-income residents of high-income
countries
• http://www.gacd.org; secretariat: UCL London

10. EU-US collaboration: Watson & Crick