CoMeCT is an EU-funded project that facilitates coordination among clinical and public health research initiatives on infectious diseases with epidemic potential.
By providing a platform for collaboration among clinical research networks and organisations, CoMeCT aims to link up existing European Adaptive Platform Trials and Cohort Studies, enabling them to act collectively and efficiently in delivering timely evidence during epidemic and pandemic scenarios.
What is CoMeCT?
CoMeCT (Coordination Mechanism for Cohorts and Trials) seeks to improve European clinical research preparedness and response capacity to infectious disease outbreaks with epidemic potential through sustained strategic and scientific coordination of adaptive platform trials and cohort studies.
By uniting existing coordination initiatives into a single coherent coordination mechanism for adaptive platform trials and cohort studies, the project aims to tackle challenges such as fragmentation, duplication of efforts, and gaps in research, ultimately contributing to improved clinical research preparedness and response capacity in Europe and beyond.
CoMeCT’s Coordination Mechanism is built upon existing coordination boards for Adaptive Platform Trials and Cohort Studies in Europe, which have been established as part of EU-funded projects and networks over the past five years.
Penta’s role will be to actively support the activities of the Cohort Coordination Board (CCB) and of the Outbreak Response Board (ORB). These two Boards, alongside the Trial Coordination Board (TCB) and the Joint Access Advisory Mechanism (JAAM), will oversee the activities of CoMeCT.
Why is CoMeCT needed?
The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light the vulnerabilities of our health systems and fragmentation of the research landscape. It revealed the importance of having readily available research networks that can quickly implement robust clinical research to improve patient care, inform public health measures, and better support regulatory decisions. It also showed the need for a robust coordination mechanism, connecting trials, cohorts, clinicians, and other relevant stakeholders, in order to avoid duplication of effort and maximise impact. CoMeCT will provide such a mechanism.
What is CoMeCT’s goal?
The overall goal of CoMeCT is to coordinate activities across Europe’s multinational clinical trials and cohort studies on infectious diseases with epidemic potential. The project will oversee and facilitate dialogue, share good practices and knowledge, promote collaboration and coordination across studies and provide updated information on initiatives and innovation in the field of infectious diseases and clinical research.
Additionally, CoMeCT will closely collaborate with preparedness initiatives at the national and EU levels, including Health and Research Directorates, Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HERA) at the European Commission, and agencies such as the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and the World Health Organization (WHO).
CoMeCT has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Grant Agreement No 101136531.