RESCEU celebrated its 4th General Assembly Meeting last 17th and 18th of June in exceptional circumstances due to COVID-19.
The plans to congregate RESCEU’s Consortium members in the historical city of Edinburg to celebrate the 4th General Assembly Meeting (GAM) in a three-day event were cut short by COVID-19. Given this year’s challenging circumstances, knowledge sharing, and scientific debate were taken online. Nearly 90 participants gathered virtually to assess the achievements made so far by the project, discuss key topics, and set the agenda for the upcoming months.
The sessions were hosted and moderated by Harish Nair (Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh) and Clarisse Demont (Sanofi Pasteur), coordinator and project leader respectively of the RESCEU project, who repeatedly gave the floor to early careers researchers. Indeed, young scientists had a prominent role during the two half-day online event celebrated on 17th and 18th of June. Ting Shi and You Li (both research fellows at the Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh), Deniz Öner (Jannsen Pharmaceutica), Joseph McGinley and Gu-Lung Lin (University of Oxford), Xiao Li (University of Antwerp), and Joanne Wildenbeest (University Medical Center Utrecht) presented the results of their respective work packages which focus largely in assembling existing RSV data with a view to inform policy‐making and regulatory decisions within the European Union.
Harry Campbell and You Li (from the Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh) together with Anne Tierlinck (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands) shared their progress on consolidation of health care systems data which will eventually support widespread cooperation, data sharing and surveillance across Europe.
With regards to the development of effective RSV prevention and treatment, Michael Abram (AstraZeneca) referred to the promising results obtained from a primary analysis of the phase 2b study of nirsevimab (MEDI8897). This immunization to prevent RSV is being developed by AstraZeneca in collaboration with Sanofi Pasteur.
The GAM also addressed other topics such as the impact of COVID-19 in RSV research and reviewed the important task carried out by the Patient Advisory Board this last year. As exposed by Nicole Derksen (PAB Coordinator at RESCEU), a substantial effort has been put into raising awareness about RSV, disseminating lay summaries of publications, and incorporating patients’ views to the project and vaccine trial developments.
Experts of the International Scientific Advisory Group (ISAG) also attended this virtual GAM. Larry Anderson (Emory University), Mark Miller (National Institutes of Health) and Pasi Penttinen (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) agreed on the outstanding progress made by the project in this challenging times and referred to the impact of COVID-19 in respiratory virus surveillance in Europe.
Clarisse Demont and Harish Nair closed the meeting by thanking all participants and members of the Consortium for their contribution and commitment to the fight to prevent RSV.