DRIVE Call for Tenders is open for sites for studying influenza vaccine effectiveness. The purpose of the call is to support the sharing of existing influenza vaccine effectiveness (IVE) data and to establish new IVE studies able to collect vaccine brand-specific information. The call is open to any European organization, institution or network capable with the required infrastructure.
IMPORTANT UPDATES: Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the call for tenders’ deadline is postponed to 28th of May 2020. Advised by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), DRIVE will adapt its European brand specific IVE platform to address the COVID-19 situation. Therefore, the annual study tender has been updated to encompass data collection on SARS-COV2 infection which will be essential to interpret its impact on the IVE assessment. EMA and IMI representatives also agreed on the recommendation proposal for a more focused investment prioritizing to populations with higher coverage and disease burden with the aim to improve the feasibility of estimating brand specific IVE. This implies targeting the adult and older adult populations and in the hospital settings in order to obtain more reliable IVE data. Accordingly, the annual DRIVE call for tenders has been updated and only studies focused on adult/older adult populations in hospital settings will be included in the selection process. DRIVE is adapting its protocols to the influence of COVID-19 in the next season (2020/2021), as COVID-19 is expected to substantially impact the IVE studies. Therefore, it will be valuable for interested sites to share some COVID-19 related data with DRIVE as a new condition.
The Research Collaborator will be compensated by FISABIO (the DRIVE Coordinator) for data sharing and contribution to the analysis, and for its participation in project meetings. The allocated budget will be sized according to the associated workload and consequent contribution to the pooled analysis (in terms of sample size). The terms and conditions of collaboration will be formalized through a Research Agreement between the Research Collaborator and FISABIO (DRIVE Coordinator).
The benefits to the Research Collaborator include:
- Generating robust brand specific IVE through a European network.
- Implementing potentially innovative approaches for brand-specific IVE estimation.
- Participation in the scientific discussion and publications process.
- Receiving funding for data sharing and capacity building.
- Participation in the DRIVE Annual Forum and General Assembly.
In case of any question related to the call, please contact: info@drive-eu.org.
Download documents
Tender Specifications
Application Form
Annex 1 Core protocol for test-negative design studies
Annex 2 Core protocol for population-based database cohort studies