On 31 March, a call for projects to develop preventive or curative therapeutic solutions against Covid-19 was launched as part of the Projets de recherche et développement structurants pour la compétitivité (Research and Development Projects Structuring Competitiveness – French acronym PSPC) action of the Program of Investments for the Future (French acronym PIA). It will be operated by Bpifrance.
© Jean-Marc Gourdon
In the context of the health emergency, the government wishes to support companies and public partners that propose therapeutic solutions against Covid-19, by financing clinical trials in France up to €50mn per project.
Candidate projects will have to present therapeutic solutions with a preventive or curative aim against Covid-19. They will concern the current epidemic but will also help to fight against future related pandemics. All therapeutic strategies are eligible (vaccines, antivirals, combination therapies, etc.) as well as all technologies (chemistry, biotechnology, artificial intelligence and exploitation of massive data or medical devices if relevant).
The call for projects is open until 30 September 2020 |
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This call for projects is part of the CSPC action of the PIA, the objective of which is to support structured collaborations between industrial and academic players. Since 2011, this scheme has made it possible to fund 75 collaborative R&D projects in many fields, corresponding to €750mn in innovation aid.
On 26 March, Bpifrance announced that it had successfully launched its largest bond issue in terms of amount: €2bn, with a 5-year maturity and a coupon of 0.125%. This operation is a strong and rapid response to the challenges raised by Covid-19 on the French economy and follows the publication of the business support measures set by Bpifrance to overcome the difficulties induced by the pandemic.