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EAPM: AI, Clinical trial data, EMA and much more…

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Good afternoon, health colleagues, and welcome to the European Alliance for Personalised Medicine (EAPM) update of the week - EAPM’s progress through the first half of 2021 has been solid, with the second half also picking up pace, as we turn the legislative pages of July into August, writes EAPM Executive Director Denis Horgan.

More clinical trial info 

Researchers are urging the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA) to harmonize clinical trial results, according to Yale YODA Project leader Harlan Krumholz, M.D., and Johnson & Johnson chief medical officer Joanne Waldstreicher, M.D. Krumholz and Waldstreicher examined the data sharing environment, including YODA and the recent International Committee of Medical Journal Editors' (ICMJE) proposal for sharing clinical trial data. They found that the research community has made great progress in data sharing, but the transformation is just beginning. 

"At Johnson & Johnson, we believe sharing clinical trial data advances the science that is the foundation of medicine," said Waldstreicher. "As our environment continues to evolve, we are encouraged that more and more stakeholders are adopting policies to allow for greater access to clinical trial data. We believe collaboration among all stakeholders - including industry, academia, patient groups and government - is essential to developing a solution that truly advances science, medicine and ultimately public health."

Surprising AI aftermath of the pandemic 

As the pandemic began to upend the world last year, businesses reached for every tool at their disposal—including AI—to solve challenges and serve customers safely and effectively. In a digital organisation, data is the connective tissue and raw material of AI. For AI models to be trained, organisations need clean, machine-digestible data labelled by subject matter experts. They require a data storage infrastructure that transcends business silos and delivers data quickly and reliably. As soon as the models are deployed, a strategy and approach to collecting data are required to continually train and tune them. The right talent Scientists with expertise in artificial intelligence are in high demand and hard to come by -- but they are crucial to understanding the AI landscape and guiding strategy. Organisations without a full team of scientists will need external partners that can fill in the gaps and help them sort through the ever-expanding array of AI vendors and offerings.

Emer Cooke: ‘Portfolio’ of vaccines needed

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EMA chief Dr Emer Cooke warns against depending too heavily on a single shot or type of vaccine: “You might have a production issue, something else might go wrong; the best approach is a portfolio approach. You might have a production issue, something else might go wrong; the best approach is a portfolio approach.” 

Governments should work with a mix of different coronavirus vaccines to stand the best chance of ending the pandemic, the head of the European drugs regulator said, warning that depending too heavily on a single shot or type of vaccine could be self-defeating. “We’re going to need a portfolio of vaccines – one thing that we’ve learned from this pandemic is that once you start making predictions, something else happens. You might have a production issue, something else might go wrong; the best approach is a portfolio approach.” 

Dr Cooke’s comments come as many higher-income countries have moved away from the adenoviral-vector vaccines after a link was observed between vaccination and a rare type of blood clot. Instead, several regions, including the EU and the US, are favouring the breakthrough mRNA jabs developed by BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna.

Trieste meeting on digital access 

The G20’s digital and research ministers have been in Trieste yesterday and today (6 August), to talk about how digital identity tools can give citizens access to digital services and what role digitalization can play in the post-pandemic recovery. The meeting is prepared by the G20 Digital Economy Task Force and should produce a Declaration of the G20 Digital Ministers.

UK NHS needs £600m to free up hospital beds ahead of 'really difficult winter', health chiefs warn 

The NHS needs an extra £600 million in Government funding to free up hospital beds ahead of what is predicted to be a "really difficult winter", the chief executive of NHS Providers has said. Chris Hopson told BBC Radio 4’s Todayprogramme that this is "likely to be one of the most difficult winters the NHS has ever seen", and that hospital chief executives have warned they are already "under real pressure" due to record numbers of urgent and emergency patients and care backlogs. 

The call for extra funding follows an initial £600 million the NHS was given for April until the end of September to fund the safe discharge of patients to avoid "bed blocking". Currently there has been no guidance over what will happen from October. Bodies such as NHS Confederation and NHS Providers are among those which have written to the Treasury and the Health Secretary asking for continued funding to avoid patients "who are medically fit to discharge" remaining in hospital, rather than rehabilitating at home. 

Hopson urged the government to "help us to look after our patients in the best way possible", which he said crucially means making available "the capacity that we know we’re going to need over what is going to be a very tough and very difficult winter".

And finally...How to persuade the reluctant to get jabbed

Following the flood of older citizens clamouring for a coronavirus jab, many countries are now resorting to bribery to convince people to get themselves jabbed. 

The persistent minority of vaccine skeptics, particularly in Europe, are probably immune from the incentives on offer. But governments are hoping that a small nudge may be what’s needed with people for whom the prospect of long-COVID or even death was not, by itself, enough to make them find a window in their schedule for a vaccine appointment.

Some are adopting a punitive approach, including France, which is insisting that certain key workers receive the jab or restrict their access to leisure activities for unvaccinated people. Pakistan is even taking the unconventional approach of removing phones from those who refuse to get the jab.

United States - When an appeal to save your own skin isn’t enough, a government promise to fatten your wallet might just do the trick. That’s the hope of US President Joe Biden, who has asked states to offer $100 for people to take up the jab. 

Hong Kong has its own top prize, a free apartment unit. And that is just one of numerous initiatives launched by private companies after the Hong Kong government asked them to help encourage people to get vaccinated. Cathay Pacific’s prize is a private party on one of its brand new A321neo jets. 

Serbia pioneered cash handouts to reluctant citizens, offering €25 to anyone over 16 in early May to get the shot.

In the UK, there remains a large hesitancy from younger portions of the population over receiving the vaccine, with ministers scratching their heads over incentivization programmes to keep things moving. 

One idea that's been giving the green light is that of using free or discounted taxi rides and takeaway food as an incentive to help younger age groups overcome these doubts.

Food delivery and taxi companies — including Uber, Deliveroo, Pizza Pilgrims and Bolt — are set to offer discounts, via notifications, food vouchers and ride credit, to customers as part of ensuring that young people are taking the COVID-19 vaccine. 

And what is Spain offering to get jabbed? Nada. Ministers have discussed it, but decided that with the vaccine rollout going well and anti-vaxxers in the minority, they don’t need to offer incentives.

That is all from EAPM for now – make sure you stay safe and well and have an excellent weekend, see you next week.

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