#EAPM: Copenhagen congress finds personalised medicine is in the blood

Saturday (11 June) saw a high-level round table take place as part of the European Hematology Association (EHA) congress in Denmark. The meeting was entitled: 'Crossing the Rubicon from Copenhagen - EHA leading the way'. 

The executive director of the Brussels-based European Alliance for Personalised Medicine (EAPM), Denis Horgan, hosted the gathering, which focused on moving 'Forward Together in the Era of Personalised Medicine'.

It included topics such as Driving Innovation Forward: The patient perspective, detailed by Natacha Bolanos, a Board Member of the European Cancer Patient Coalition; providing further evidence for the benefit delivered by PM to health systems, delivered by Giovanni Martinelli, of the University of Bologna, and; supporting health economics research of PM to support decision-makers, from Andreas Engert, of Uniklinik Koln.

After the presentations - and question and answer opportunities - the session wrapped up with a discussion about the way forward for personalised medicine.  EHA’s annual event offered a forum for presenting “original and unpublished” data while sharing ideas for hematological innovation. It also disseminates evidence-based knowledge.

This year’s was at the Bella Centre in the Danish capital.  At the Congress, high-level speakers and attendees come from a wide range of stakeholder groups to include patients, healthcare professionals, academics, industry representatives, politicians and legislators, the media and more.

The Congress is calling for the formulation of a patient-centred strategy involving EU decision makers and regulators in the arena of public health. These are aims shared by EAPM and focus on enabling the EU and member states to contribute to integrating personalised medicine into clinical practice while enabling much-greater access for patients.

EAPM held its round table at the Congress specifically in order to support EHA, one of its society members, as well as to track new developments in the EAPM is holding the round table at the Congress in order to support EHA, one of its society members, as well as to track new developments in hematology.

EHA describes hematology as “a speciality that covers everything to do with blood: its origin in the bone marrow, diseases of the blood and their treatments”.

The topics at the conference, which began on 9 June and ran until Sunday 12 June, ranged from stem-cell physiology and development, to leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma, to name but a few areas.  The EAPM-led workshop, among other topics, considered that around 3 million individuals across the world have a rare bleeding or clotting disorder. These diseases are caused by changes in people's genes and may be passed down from parents to their children.

New developments allowing doctors and scientists to understand the genetic causes assists greatly in providing better treatments and information about likely disease development.

Swift diagnoses are essential in identifying affected relatives while providing support, advice and treatments ignored to improve quality of life and pre-empt any medical emergencies.

“This is personalised medicine in action,” said EAPM’s Horgan. “Personalised medicine has never been more in the public eye than it is now, and the round table aims to reflect this,” he added.  Clearly, the hematology community has a lot to contribute and has been a leading light in shaping the EU policies as evidenced by Luxembourg’s Council Conclusions on Personalised Medicine.

Two breakthrough to emerge already from the Congress concern the improvement of survival in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia patients, and the results of the Euro-Ski trials concerning chronic myeloid leukaemia patients.

Given that personalised medicine has never been more in the public eye than it is now, especially in the wake of US President Barack Obama’s initiative on precision medicine, the round table aims to reflect this. The Americans are moving quickly and have come to some obvious conclusions including that health equals wealth and that investment in research and innovation, alongside laws and rules that are fit-for-purpose and reflect the swiftly changing world of medicine, are vital.

Said Horgan: “Europe needs to grasp these points at every level – not just the vision of an EU that creates a competitive environment that attracts investment, but also for the benefit of the millions of potential patients spread across 28 member states.”

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