Vaccines 2.0 - Developing the Next Generation of Vaccines

Call Updates

Sep 22, 2022 5:15:51 PM

Second stage of call HORIZON-HLTH-2022-DISEASE-06-two-stage closed on 6 September 2022. 67 proposals have been submitted. The breakdown per topic is:

• HORIZON-HLTH-2022-DISEASE-06-03-two-stage: 15 proposals

Evaluation results are expected to be communicated on Friday 9 December 2022 at the earliest.

Jun 24, 2022 12:19:59 PM

Please consult the "Call updates" section for generalised feedback after stage 1.

Jun 24, 2022 12:19:59 PM

In order to best ensure equal treatment, successful stage 1 applicants do not receive the evaluation summary reports (ESRs) for their proposals, but this generalised feedback with information and tips for preparing the full proposal.

Information & tips

Main suggestions to stage 2 applicants:

• The proposal should address all the individual sub-criteria under in the appropriate section of the proposal. The methodology, current state of the art and – where relevant – use of AI should be clearly described.
• Where relevant, preliminary data (even if unpublished) should be presented.
• Where relevant, detailed information on epitopes should be given.
• If your proposal contains clinical studies, please read carefully the definition and guidance on the template ‘Information on clinical studies' published on the call page in the Participant Portal (https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/temp-form/af/information-on-clinical-studies_he_en.docx) and remember to upload the template filled in when submitting your proposal.

In your stage 2 proposal, you have a chance to address or clarify these issues. Please bear in mind that your full proposal will now be evaluated more in-depth and possibly by a new group of outside experts.

Please make sure that your full proposal is consistent with your short outline proposal. It may NOT differ substantially. The project must remain the same.

Jun 1, 2022 5:07:56 PM

Topic specific evaluation results:

• Number of proposals submitted (including proposals transferred from or to other calls): 45
• Number of inadmissible proposals: 1
• Number of ineligible proposals: 0
• Number of above-threshold proposals: 15
• Total budget requested for above-threshold proposals: EUR 121,727,050

May 25, 2022 5:01:19 PM

In accordance with General Annex D of the Work Programme, the evaluation of the first-stage proposals was made looking only at the criteria 'excellence' and 'impact'. The threshold for both individual criteria is 4.

The overall threshold applying to the sum of the two individual scores was set at a level that ensures the total requested budget of proposals admitted to stage 2 is as close as possible to three times the available budget, and not less than two and a half times the available budget, and is as follows:

• HORIZON-HLTH-2022-DISEASE-06-03-two-stage: Overall threshold applied is 9,5

The results of the evaluation are:

• Number of proposals submitted (including proposals transferred from or to other calls): 240
• Number of inadmissible proposals: 2
• Number of ineligible proposals: 3
• Number of above-threshold proposals: 67
• Total budget requested for above-threshold proposals: EUR 475.825.117,34

Feb 8, 2022 4:41:50 PM

Call HORIZON-HLTH-2022-DISEASE-06-two-stage closed on 1 February 2022. 240 proposals have been submitted. The breakdown per topic is:

• HORIZON-HLTH-2022-DISEASE-06-03-two-stage: 45 proposals

Evaluation results are expected to be communicated on Friday 20 May 2022 at the earliest.

Oct 6, 2021 12:00:01 AM

The submission session is now available for: HORIZON-HLTH-2022-DISEASE-06-03-two-stage(HORIZON-RIA)

Vaccines 2.0 - developing the next generation of vaccines

TOPIC ID: HORIZON-HLTH-2022-DISEASE-06-03-two-stage

Programme: Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)
Call: Tackling diseases (Two Stage - 2022) (HORIZON-HLTH-2022-DISEASE-06-two-stage)
Type of action: HORIZON-RIA HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Type of MGA: HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG]
Deadline model: two-stage
Planned opening date: 06 October 2021
Deadline dates: 01 February 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time
06 September 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time

Topic description

ExpectedOutcome:

This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination 3 “Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden”. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim for delivering results that are directed, tailored towards and contributing to all of the following expected outcomes:

• The scientific and clinical communities use the increased knowledge on pathogens and better understanding of the immune system’s role in infectious diseases to develop vaccines with improved efficacy.
• Vaccine manufacturers use more innovative and sustainable manufacturing technologies and improved GMP manufacturing know-how for producing the next generation of vaccines.
• A diversified portfolio of vaccine candidates ready for testing in clinical trials help policy makers and funders to make informed decisions about support to vaccine development.
• New innovative and improved design of preclinical/clinical studies that match the features of the next generation of vaccines is available for clinical community and regulators, and will shorten vaccine development time.

Scope:

Infectious diseases, including antimicrobial resistant (AMR) infections, remain a major threat to health and health security in the EU and globally. The availability of more effective, accessible and affordable vaccines would provide the most cost-effective preventive measure against the health threat of epidemics and AMR pathogens. Vaccines against diseases, such as AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), malaria, neglected tropical diseases, hepatitis C and water-borne diseases are essential to achieve the WHO targets to control the spread of infectious diseases. The first generation of vaccines against some of the pathogens have proven to be suboptimal and not effective enough to protect the population. Many viruses of pandemic potential are variable in their surface antigen composition, and novel technologies are required to develop efficient vaccines against each new variant efficiently and in a short timeframe. To ensure that more effective, accessible and affordable vaccines against all major infectious diseases become a reality, it is essential to sustain a diverse and modernised vaccine development pipeline.

Proposals should aim to diversify and accelerate the global vaccine research and development pipeline, and to strengthen the current leading role of the EU in vaccine research and development. Proposals should cover those pathogens, which still lack vaccines of sufficient efficacy, but where earlier efforts have already produced promising vaccine candidates.

The proposals should address several of the following areas:

• Innovation and integration of expertise and capabilities, including alignment of preclinical and clinical models, biomarker studies and new vaccine approaches from discovery to late stage development, from bench-based research to clinical development of promising preventive candidates.
• Application of iterative processes (including cross-learning, back-translation steps, integrative analysis of data) to allow exploitation and integration of novel findings between clinical, preclinical and discovery research and development.
• Deciphering mechanisms of protection of candidates, new approaches to antigen discovery and immunogen engineering, reverse vaccinology, evaluation of vaccines in novel platforms and technologies, novel adjuvants, innovative vaccine manufacturing approaches, relevant animal models, evaluation of alternative vaccine delivery routes.
• Effective, evidence-based decision-making for progression of vaccine candidates in the pipeline based on transparent and objective portfolio management. Regulatory requirements be considered. Sex, gender, age and socio-economic factors should be taken into account.

Cross-cutting Priorities:
Socio-economic science and humanities