PIPELINE project will strengthen response to threats to maternal and infant health

Recent epidemics have highlighted how infectious disease outbreaks can severely and sometimes uniquely affect the short- and longer-term health of pregnant women and their infants. Nevertheless, these groups are invariably excluded from pandemic preparedness and response research, as observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The PIPELINE consortium’s ambition is to develop a dedicated pregnancy-infant preparedness platform for adaptive trials that will improve epidemic and pandemic preparedness for these underserved populations. It aims to reduce the health burden of disease through more effective management, achieve improved preparedness of health systems to respond to health emergencies, and reduce citizens’ risk of, and increase their knowledge about, health threats of epidemics and pandemics.

Objectives

PIPELINE’s efforts are focused on establishing a multi-country adaptive trials platform to support innovative diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics for infections during pregnancy and infancy. This platform is designed to pivot rapidly in response to emerging health threats. To achieve this, PIPELINE will create and sustain a responsive, “ever-warm” clinical trial network specialising in recruiting pregnant women and infants, utilizing adaptive trial designs.

As a proof of concept, PIPELINE will undertake an adaptive platform trial on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) immunization in pregnant women and infants, addressing a critical public health priority for the EU. Ecraid will be at the helm of this clinical research, providing its extensive trial management expertise. 

Additionally, the project will evaluate novel sampling techniques and immunity approaches, enhancing preparedness for future health challenges. All activities will be integrated with ongoing dissemination, exploitation, and communication efforts to engage stakeholders and translate findings into actionable policy recommendations.

Collaboration

Led by Penta Foundation, PIPELINE is a multidisciplinary collaboration of 16 organisations with track record in maternal and infant health research, who will leverage and strengthen existing networks to maximise Europe-wide outreach. Next to Ecraid, these include St George's Hospital Medical School (UK), University Medical Center Utrecht (the Netherlands), University College London (UK), University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy), University of Antwerpen (Belgium), Inserm (France), conect4children Stichting (the Netherlands), ISI Foundation (Italy), Madridelian Health Service (Spain), University of Verona (Italy), ReSViNET (the Netherlands), Paris Cité University (France), Annecy Genevois Hospital Centre (France), and EHESP (France).

The consortium is funded through the Horizon Europe work programme Health Destination 3: Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden (2023/4) for a period of 4 years starting on 1 January 2025.