GA²LEN (Global Allergy and Asthma European Network), die Perspektive der deutschsprachigen Zentren

Allergic diseases represent a major health problem in Europe. They are increasing in prevalence, severity and costs. GA²LEN (Global Allergy and Asthma European Network), an FP6 Network of Excellence, was created in 2005 as a vehicle to ensure excellence in research bringing together research and clinical institutions to combat fragmentation in the European research area and to tackle allergy as a whole. GA²LEN benefited greatly from the voluntary efforts of researchers who are strongly committed to this model of pan-European collaboration. The network was organized in order to increase networking for scientific projects in allergy and asthma around Europe and to make GA₂LEN the world leader in the field. Besides these activities, research has been jointly made and the first papers are being published. GA ²LEN achievements in general can be grouped as those for a durable infrastructure built up during the project phase those which are project-related work based on these novel infrastructures, and the development and implementations of guidelines. The major achievements of GA²LEN are reported in this paper.