International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium

International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium
Name	International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium
Abbreviation	ISARIC
Formation	2011
Type	Consortium
Headquarters	Oxford
Region served	Global

International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium is a global federation of clinical research networks formed to provide a coordinated, rapid research response to severe acute respiratory infections and emerging infectious threats. It mobilizes clinical investigators, epidemiologists, funders, public health agencies, and humanitarian organizations to enable harmonized protocols, shared data, and rapid deployment of clinical studies during outbreaks. The consortium links academic institutions, health ministries, philanthropic foundations, and multilateral organizations to accelerate clinical characterization, therapeutics evaluation, and observational research.

History

ISARIC was founded in 2011 in response to lessons from the 2009 influenza pandemic and the Severe acute respiratory syndrome experience, drawing expertise from clinical networks established after the H1N1 pandemic and collaborations involving World Health Organization, Wellcome Trust, ECDC, and national research institutes. Early partners included investigators from University of Oxford, Imperial College London, University of Liverpool, and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, building on prior work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the NIH. During the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic and the 2015–2016 Zika epidemic, the consortium refined emergency protocols and case report forms in collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières, CDC, and regional clinical research platforms. The consortium played a central coordinating role again during the COVID-19 pandemic, interacting with agencies such as Public Health England, NHS England, European Commission, and funders including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and UKRI.

Organization and Governance

The consortium is governed by a steering committee and an executive management team that coordinate with scientific advisory boards, data access committees, and regional hubs in partnership with universities and research councils such as MRC, NIHR, and national academies. Governance mechanisms draw on models from CEPI, Global Fund, and the EMA to align ethics review and regulatory engagement across jurisdictions in collaboration with ministries of health in countries including United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, India, and China. Strategic partnerships interface with the World Health Organization, donor organizations like the Wellcome Trust, and academic consortia including REACT, SOLIDARITY clinical trial, and networks connected to the African Academy of Sciences.

Research Programs and Activities

ISARIC develops standardized clinical characterization protocols, case report forms, and observational cohort studies used in multicenter investigations of pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV, Ebola virus, Lassa fever, and avian influenza strains like H5N1. Activities include prospective cohort studies, platform trials in collaboration with groups like RECOVERY Trial, biomarker and pathogen sequencing studies with partners such as Wellcome Sanger Institute and EMBL, and implementation research with institutions like Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, and University of Cape Town. The consortium supports capacity building through training workshops, clinical network strengthening with partners like Africa CDC, and deployment of emergency research teams allied with Médecins Sans Frontières and national clinical research networks.

Data Sharing and Open Science Initiatives

ISARIC promotes rapid data sharing and open science by maintaining harmonized metadata standards, common data elements, and secure data platforms interoperable with initiatives like GloPID-R, Data for Pandemic Preparedness, and repositories used by EGA and GenBank. The consortium instituted data access procedures mirroring principles advocated by WHO, Wellcome Trust, and NIH to facilitate pooled analyses while respecting local governance, ethics committees, and data protection regulators such as European Data Protection Supervisor. ISARIC tools have been used to aggregate multinational datasets supporting analyses led by teams at Karolinska Institutet, Pasteur Institute, Monash University, and University of Toronto.

Global Partnerships and Collaborations

The consortium maintains partnerships with multilateral organizations and academic centers including World Health Organization, UNICEF, African Union, African CDC, Pan American Health Organization, and regional clinical research networks across West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. It collaborates closely with clinical trial platforms like SOLIDARITY and national trial infrastructures such as NIHR and U.S. clinical research networks tied to NIH. Academic collaborators include University of Oxford, Imperial College London, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, University of São Paulo, and University of Nairobi, while philanthropic and funding partners include Wellcome Trust, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and national research councils.

Impact and Contributions to Outbreak Response

ISARIC's standardized protocols, case report forms, and rapid data-sharing frameworks have enabled timely clinical characterization during the COVID-19 pandemic, facilitated multicountry observational analyses informing treatment guidelines by WHO, and supported trial readiness for therapeutic evaluation in outbreaks like Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo and MERS outbreaks in the Middle East. Its training and network strengthening efforts have enhanced regional research capacity in collaboration with Africa CDC, PAHO, and national ministries of health, improving preparedness for pathogens including SARS-CoV-2, Lassa virus, and avian influenza strains. ISARIC's work has been cited in policy briefings by World Health Organization and used by guideline committees in institutions such as NICE and CDC to inform clinical management and research priorities.

Category:Medical research organizations