Strengthening the resilience and independence of the life sciences research infrastructure in Europe is necessary regarding the risks posed by dependencies on US-based information services. ZB MED – Information Centre for Life Sciences will therefore develop an open, reliable and sustainable alternative to the PubMed database. This alternative database will provide the currently available PubMed content as well as a technical and administrative framework for the continuous expansion with new publications. A key milestone has already been reached: the current contents of PubMed have been secured and are accessible via the ZB MED search portal LIVIVO.