April 14, 2015 (Montreal, QC) – Today, the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) are pleased to announce the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will allow them to share information and work together on areas of common interest.

Both organisations have a strong scientific and medical focus and there is considerable overlap in their areas of work. Tests developed through IMI to analyse the effect of medicines in patients could in turn be useful for WADA in its efforts to identify athletes who have abused substances in an attempt to enhance their performance. Similarly, WADA’s work on counterfeit drugs could also be of relevance to IMI.

Under the agreement, IMI and WADA will work to identify knowledge gaps affecting both parties and establish informal and formal collaborations to address these areas. They will also share knowledge and data in areas of mutual interest.

IMI and WADA have already identified a number of areas of interest for future collaborations. These include ageing, frailty, lung function, blood supply, cognition, the long-term effects of medicines, biological signatures of drug use, among others.

Irene Norstedt, IMI Acting Executive Director commented: “Many aspects of WADA’s comprehensive research programme are of direct relevance to the Innovative Medicines Initiative’s goal of advancing medicines development. This Memorandum of Understanding will make it easier for us to share ideas and expertise and learn from one another.”

WADA Director General, David Howman said: “It is important for WADA to continue to partner with leading pharmaceutical and healthcare research organizations such as IMI for the benefit of our two communities; encouraging collaboration was the very purpose of the Second International Pharmaceutical Conference in Tokyo earlier this year. This partnership will help IMI minimize the risk of abuse of innovative medicines, and it will help WADA develop new strategies to identify substances that could be subject to misuse and abuse by athletes.”