Our story

Key legislation: Established in 2003 under Article 185 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (ex-Art. 169), allowing EU involvement in research programmes. EDCTP1 operated as a European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG) incorporated in the Netherlands, with its membership restricted to 16 countries in the European Economic Area.

Funding sources: Supported by the European Union’s FP6/FP7 funding programmes, EDCTP1 Participating States and third parties

Total budget: €400 M (European Union: €200M; Participating States: €200M) and Third parties: €200M

Main focus: Fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria through clinical trials, capacity building, and research coordination.

Highlights:

‣ Supported 102 clinical trials for treatment drugs, vaccines, microbicides, and diagnostics targeting HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria.

‣ Provided professional training to 514 African scientists and medical doctors, contributing to capacity building.

‣ Established four African Regional Networks of Excellence for clinical research.

‣ Strengthened ethics review capacity and regulatory authorities in many African countries.

‣ Main funder of the Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR), which became a WHO Primary Clinical Trials Registry.

Impact: Created the foundation for a coordinated European-African approach to combat poverty-related diseases and strengthened African ownership.

Key legislation: Launched in 2014 as a continuation of EDCTP1 under Article 185 and supported by the Horizon 2020 research framework.

Funding sources: Supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 framework programme, EDCTP2 Participating States and third parties

Total budget: €1.36Bn (European Union: €683M; Participating States: €683M) and third parties: €500M

Main focus: To enhance research capacity and accelerate the development of new or improved medical interventions for the identification, treatment and prevention of poverty-related infectious diseases, including emerging and re-emerging diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.

New aspects:

‣ Expanded disease scope to include neglected infectious diseases, diarrhoeal diseases, lower respiratory infections, and emerging/re-emerging infections of relevance to sub-Saharan Africa.

‣ Continued support for all phases of clinical trials, with emphasis on phase II and III trials, and expansion to include product-focused implementation research and health services optimisation.

‣ Formation of the EDCTP Association in 2014 allowed sub-Saharan African countries to formally join, establishing a true European-African partnership.

‣ New mechanism for in-kind contributions from European Union Member States: Participating States’ Initiated Activities

Highlights:

‣ Strengthened European-African collaboration on clinical research around a common strategic research agenda.

‣ Expanded focus beyond HIV, TB, and malaria to include neglected infectious diseases and emerging infections.

‣ Played a key role in global health responses to pandemics and epidemics (e.g. Ebola and COVID-19).

Key legislation: Established in 2021 as a Joint Undertaking under Article 187 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, part of the Horizon Europe programme. Officialy launched by Council Regulation 2021/2085 of 19 November 2021.

Funding sources: Supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe framework programme, EDCTP Association members and third parties

Total budget: Over €1.86Bn (EU Horizon Europe: €910M; EDCTP Association members: €550M; Contributing partners: €400M).

Main focus: Enhancing research capacity and accelerating the clinical development of new or improved health technologies for the identification, treatment and prevention of poverty-related and neglected infectious diseases, including (re-)emerging diseases, in sub-Saharan Africa.

New aspects:

‣ Special focus on late-stage product development (Phase III and IV clinical trials and product-focused implementation research) and addressing the unmet medical needs of vulnerable populations such as pregnant women, newborns, children, adolescents, the elderly and people with co-infections and co-morbidities.

‣ Focuses on strengthening research infrastructure and building regional and global health security.

‣ Greater emphasis on overarching global health challenges, such as epidemic preparedness and response, antimicrobial resistance, digital health solutions and climate crisis-related infectious disease.