The PROMISE (Preparing for RSV Immunisation and Surveillance in Europe) project recently came to a close, delivering tangible results and changing the landscape of RSV prevention and treatment forever. We look back at the journey of this successful public-private partnership in which we had the privilege to participate with our expertise in project management, consortium governance and dissemination.
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a common virus responsible for colds in the winter. For most people, RSV causes mild infection, but for very young children, those who are immunocompromised and the elderly, RSV can result in severe disease, causing around 118,000 child deaths every year. Moreover, disease burden is higher in developing countries and, until recently, there were few preventative or therapeutic interventions. This calls for global collaboration to develop novel solutions and lessen RSV disease burden.
The birth of PROMISE
RESCEU (Respiratory Syncytial virus Consortium in EUrope) – the predecessor project to PROMISE – successfully created a Europe-wide multistakeholder community from academia, industry, patient groups, public health, scientific societies, and regulatory agencies. This project provided a platform for future RSV vaccine and clinical trials and outputs related to a better understanding of RSV disease burden and economic impact.
The success of RESCEU led to the development of PROMISE, another Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI)-funded project, with European partners in academia, industry, and non-profit organisations. Teamit has played a pivotal role in the initiation, development, implementation, and successful completion of this project.
Teamit’s role as experts in project management
Teamit was principally involved in effective coordination and management of this complex project, taking learnings from RESCEU forward into PROMISE and promoting sustainability for these initiatives beyond the project lifetime.
Maica Llavero, Co-head of EU-Funded Projects at Teamit shares:
One of our roles as project managers in PROMISE was to be the glue that connects all the pieces by ensuring that partners communicated and worked together efficiently. We contributed to setting up a solid governance structure and rules of engagement which guaranteed sound and transparent public-private multi-stakeholder collaboration.
We have also played a key role in communication and dissemination tasks.
Berta Gumí Audenis, Head of Training and Education and Project Manager at Teamit, explains:
As part of the communication task in the PROMISE project we had the opportunity to support partners in the dissemination of important results to increase their outreach and impact. For example, we helped PROMISE to establish connections with policymakers so that project results could inform their public health strategies to fight RSV. We also organised capacity building activities addressed to Early Career Researchers (ECR) to upscale their communication and dissemination skills.
PROMISE of public-private partnerships
PROMISE has allowed partners with diverse expertise to share knowledge and promote discussion to drive forward solutions to reduce RSV burden. It has led to various publications, enhanced understanding of RSV and our immune response, enabled epidemiology and surveillance studies, and strengthened patient engagement and awareness efforts.
Partners also created a Rules of Collaboration document to guide transparent public-private engagement.
Game-changing RSV prevention options
The RESCEU and PROMISE projects coincided with the approval of new RSV therapeutics. In 2023, a monoclonal antibody developed by Sanofi and AstraZeneca was licensed by EMA and FDA for infants. Two new RSV vaccines were also approved in 2023 for older adults and infants. These breakthroughs show major advances in RSV prevention.
Partnerships to improve quality of life worldwide
Over eight years, RESCEU and PROMISE have shown how public-private partnerships can produce impactful outcomes. These collaborations have delivered tangible outputs to improve global quality of life.
At Teamit, we work with partners aligned with our vision of empowering collaborative research and innovation for a healthier future. PROMISE is a clear example of this mission in action.
Find out more about the other innovative projects we are involved in here.
