ISIDORe Concludes: A Landmark in Europe’s Fight Against Infectious Diseases
ISIDORe Concludes: A Landmark in Europe’s Fight Against Infectious Diseases
ISIDORe (Integrated Services for Infectious Disease Outbreak Research), a Horizon Europe-funded project, will conclude its groundbreaking journey on 31 July 2025.
Launched with an ambition to propose a new approach to epidemic preparedness and response research in Europe, the project aimed to strengthen European and global capacities to prevent and respond to infectious threats.
A high-level User Conference, hosted by ERINHA on 11-12 June 2025 in Paris, brought together Europe’s leading infectious disease researchers, public health experts, and scientific infrastructure partners. The two-day event fostered dynamic discussions and knowledge exchange, showcasing real-world use cases of research projects that benefitted from ISIDORe support. It also provided a unique opportunity for the scientific community and research infrastructures to interact and build new collaborations. More details on the successful Transnational Access (TNA) and Joint Research Activities (JRA) projects supported by ISIDORe can be found on the dedicated user page.
By launching calls for proposals addressing SARS-COV-2 variants, monkeypox virus and a wide range of pathogens, including respiratory, RG4, and vector-borne pathogens along with their vectors, ISIDORe offered researchers access to over 300 services via an online catalogue. These services formed an integrated continuum across the entire biomedical research pipeline: from early discovery and molecular characterisation, through preclinical validation and clinical trial readiness, to real-world evidence and population health impact.
Within ISIDORe, ECRIN, the European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network, provided regulatory and clinical trial preparation support at no cost for researchers developing infectious disease studies. Two key services were offered: expert advice to researchers on efficient clinical trial design and planning, and access to conduct clinical trials for new therapeutic, preventive or vaccine intervention arms through one of three ongoing platform trials: REMAP‑COVID, EU‑SolidAct and VACCELERATE.
One notable example is the support provided to PharmaHOLDINGS, a Norway-based company developing a nasal spray treatment against respiratory infections. With ECRIN facilitation, PharmaHOLDINGS was granted access to a Phase 2a trial within ECRAID Prime platform trial. ISIDORe funding contributed to trial preparation, including partial support for manufacturing and qualified-person (QP) release of packaged and labelled clinical material.
The upcoming trial, scheduled to begin in Q3 2025 across five EU countries - aims to confirm promising preclinical findings, assess the compound’s antiviral efficacy, and determine whether it can shorten or lessen the severity of respiratory infections.
PharmaHOLDINGS benefited from preclinical, regulatory and clinical trial access services through ISIDORe, representing a successful cross-research infrastructure (cross-RI) project. Should the compound demonstrate strong clinical results and move towards market availability as one of the effective treatments against influenza and respiratory infections, it would stand as a significant achievement for ISIDORe and all the involved stakeholders.
