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 Diagnosis and innovative medicines go hand in hand:
 towards targeted therapies, the role of genetics and pharmacogenetics
EuropaBio believes that effective treatment demands rapid and accurate diagnosis to enable the determination and provision, if appropriate, of an effective therapy. Diagnostic products and services give patients and their physicians critical information to allow quicker decision making so that the appropriate treatment is provided or another solution, proposed. EuropaBio believes that diagnosis will become increasingly important as therapies become more targeted and personalized thanks to pharmacogenetics.
More and more, therapies require close monitoring of the patient to ensure compliance and optimal clinical outcomes in a disease management approach. In such an approach, patient progress is monitored according to an established set of therapeutic goals. For a number of diseases, which include rare diseases, this approach is especially important because of the wide variability in the patient’s symptoms and severity of disease.
Because many diseases have a genetic component, another factor to take into consideration is that the diagnosis of an individual may not only have an impact on that individual, but also on his/her family.
EuropaBio therefore proposes to discuss:
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the societal consequences of this shifting focus in healthcare, which is making healthcare more targeted;
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the necessary adaptations of healthcare systems to allow this type of innovation to reach its optimal contribution; and
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how to reach societal consensus on what is acceptable, and what is not in terms of new technologies, and their impact on the patient, his/her family, and society as a whole.
EuropaBio Actions
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Advocate significant improvement in the Clinical Trials Directive in order to better capture the opportunities offered by new technologies and targeted therapies.
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Coordination of biotech industry input into European Commission policies relating to medical aspects of biosafety.
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Stakeholder input into the European Commission’s consultation on ‘Health in Europe: A Strategic Approach’ to ensure biotech and emerging technologies are at the top of the European healthcare agenda.
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