The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), the 3rd biggest political group in the European Parliament have put forward amendments to the Specific Programme Implementing Horizon 2020
The Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020) calling for more focus on pre-clinical safety assessments. The ALDE party stresses that there is already a paradigm shift in the development of vaccines towards more predictive and efficient non-animal approaches. The full text reads as follows (new text submitted by Mr. Lamberts is highlighted in bold): “There is a need for more effective preventive vaccines (or alternative preventive interventions) and evidence based vaccination schemes for an expanded range of diseases. This relies on a better understanding of disease and disease processes and their consequent epidemics,more predictiveandefficient pre-clinicalsafety assessments (e.g. consistencyapproach together with other non-animalor reduction approaches)andthat clinical trials and associated studies are undertaken.”
The importance of imaging technologies to the development of vaccines was also greatly stressed at a high profile event hosted by the European Voice in Brussels entitled “Understanding Vaccination” on 25 April 2012. During this event the main speaker Dr. Behazine Combadière of the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), stressed that imaging technologies are becoming increasingly important as they can help determine the best site of injection which is a vital factor in effective vaccinations.
The fact that the ALDE party is putting forward amendments to the Horizon 2020 dossier reflecting the value of pre-clinical tests for vaccination is positive to the goals of VPH and provides a potential advocacy angle in promoting VPH as an effective tool in reducing the need for animal testing.
