Health top priority for citizens at ‘crunch time’ for Europe

 “When European citizens are asked about their priorities for the next 15 years, health and medical care emerge as the number one concern,” MEP Elisabetta Gardini has told a high-level conference in Brussels.

The Italian deputy was addressing a broad base of stakeholders during the first session of the European Alliance for Personalised Medicine’s second annual conference, held in the city’s prestigious Bibliotheque Solvay on 9-10 September.

Gardini added: “European citizens also believe that the greatest impact of science and technological innovation will be on health improvement through, for example, having tailored treatments for their conditions.

“Health-oriented policymaking must therefore become a clear priority,” the MEP insisted.

She went on to say that “the coming decades will see major simultaneous changes – an ageing population and the growing chronic diseases burden, urbanisation, pollution or climate change – that will increase the health and wealth vulnerability of our society.”

Italy currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union and, in a speech delivered to the conference Beatrice Lorenzin, the country’s minister of health, said: “Many stakeholders have argued that personalised medicine is too complex for the realities of today, too costly for society to pay for and the research needed to bring the idea to life is too far away.

“But for all its complexity and distance, the reality is simple,” the minister added. “Either we find a way to create new opportunities for co-operation and co-ordination between all stakeholders…or we will fail. We must aim high.”

“We can do this,” the minister’s message continued, “because we have a wealth of knowledge in Europe, yet we also know we have differing societal choices and differing expertise within member states and regions.

“But we must build on our strengths to tackle the gaps that exist in bringing personalised medicine to our 500 million citizens.”

Other speakers on the first day of the forum included Alastair Kent, of Genetic Alliance, and Prof. Gordon McVie, of the European Institute of Oncology.

Kent said: “This is crunch time for Europe. The clock is ticking for patients. But there is time. Time that allows us to put the patients at the centre of their own care but it also means prioritization is the order of the day.

“Better health for citizens and patients is essential to Europe's prosperity. We cannot grow without healthier citizens that can contribute to the member state and the EU project.”

“One of the basic tenets of the European Union is equality,” continued Kent. “In a multi-cultural union of 28 states equality is a challenge in any EU policy area, but in health care it’s arguably the greatest challenge of all.

“Not only are there disparities in wealth between individuals and, of course, whole countries, but there are also differences in the standards of health care systems and treatment across the member states.

“Europe has an ageing population and, at any one time, millions are ill to some degree or another. The difficulty is that the EU ideal of equality has not been achieved when it comes to patients gaining access to existing best treatments, or even advice, equally across the Union.”

But on a highly positive note, Kent said: “Scientific advances continue, leading to better treatments and medicines (especially in cancer and rare diseases) being developed all the time. With the advances in genomic science, personalised medicine and individually targeted treatments for rare cancers, there has never been a better opportunity to improve patient outcomes across the EU as a whole.”|

Professor McVie said: “Many citizens are asking: Why does Europe matter? How does Europe help us?

“In the era of personalised medicine, the EU can help in many ways. Personalised medicine starts with you and me. It’s all about empowering the patient and giving the right treatment to the right one at the right time. Sound simple? Well, it isn’t, for a variety of reasons, but the concept is already starting to revolutionise medicine and the way treatment is delivered.

“EAPM’s mix of members provides extensive scientific, clinical, caring and training expertise in PM and diagnostics, across patient groups, academia, health professionals and industry. Relevant departments of the Commission have observer status, as does the European Medicines Agency, so it really is in the vanguard of this rapidly developing science-driven approach to health care.”

Added McVie: “To help push the agenda further, EAPM launched its STEPs campaign in the Brussels seat of the European Parliament. STEPs stands for Specialised Treatment for Europe’s Patients and aims to highlight, to current and potential MEPs, the possibilities surrounding PM and the advantages for their constituents.

“Essentially, it outlines five STEPs towards a healthier Europe by aiming to secure patients’ quality of life through PM. The goals are to ensure a regulatory environment which allows early patient access to novel and efficacious PM; increase research and development for PM, while recognising its value; improve the education and training of health care professionals; support new approaches to reimbursement and HTA assessment, required for patient access to PM, and; increase awareness and understanding of PM.

He concluded: “While we are standing only at the foot of the mountain, I am sure with the cross section of stakeholders present here today will allow us to take some steps up this mountain together.”

Also speaking during the first day were Gunter Danner. Associate Director of the European Representation of the German Social Insurance, Nicola Bedlington. Executive Director of the European Patients Forum (EPF), Prof. Alexander Eggermont. President of the Institut de Cancérologie Gustave Roussy, Prof. Uli Jaeger. Past President of the European Hematology Association (EHA), Pascal Garel. Chief Executive of the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation (HOPE).

These were joined on the podium by Daniel Schneider. Senior Director at Genomic Health, Richard Bergstrom. Director General of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), Prof. Arturo Chiti. President-Elect of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM). Prof. Helmut Brand. EAPM Co-Chair, Kay Swinburne MEP. Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Paolo G. Casali. Chair of ESMO’s Public Policy Committee, European Society of Medical Oncology, Tim Kievits. Director Healthcare Innovation at VitrOmicsn Richard Torbett. Chief Economist of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and Prof. Ernst Hafen. Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zurich/.

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