Biocat takes part in high-level debate on advanced therapies and clinical trials at European Parliament
The event, organized as part of the European PRECISEU project, brought together institutional representatives, clinical experts, industry, research facilities and patient organizations to address how to accelerate access to health innovation in Europe.
Biocat took part on 4 June in the High-Level Meeting “PRECISEU with Choose Europe for Life Sciences”, held at the European Parliament, in Brussels, within the framework of the European project PRECISEU – Regional Innovation Valley in Personalised Medicine. The meeting aimed to contribute to the European debate on how to move from strategy to implementation in life sciences, with a special focus on advanced therapies and clinical trials.
The event, attended by more than sixty representatives, was hosted by MEP Nicolás Casares and supported by the Ministry for European Union and Foreign Action, Biocat, Sahlgrenska Science Park, EATRIS-ERIC, BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg and AstraZeneca. The session was addressed to European policymakers, members of the European Parliament, representatives of the European Commission and key stakeholders in the ATMP value chain, including hospitals, clinical trial leaders, research infrastructures, industry, SMEs, innovation clusters and patient organisations.
During the event, participants shared capabilities, opportunities and barriers to strengthen European competitiveness in personalised medicine, as well as to ensure faster, more equitable and sustainable patient access to innovation. PRECISEU, which connects 27 partners from 15 regions and 12 European countries, presented results and implementation-oriented priorities, with the aim of contributing to the flagship initiatives of the “Choose Europe for Life Sciences 2030” strategy.
The programme included an institutional welcome by Nikos Papandreou, member of the European Parliament and of the Committee on Public Health, and Ester Borràs, delegate of the Government of Catalonia to the European Union. Paschalia Koufokotsiou, policy officer at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, also took part with a presentation focused on ATMPs and the Biotech Act.
In the words of Nikos Papandreu: "Catalonia is an ecosystem we can learn a great deal from: this is the third time I have worked with the Catalan group and I am very impressed. As policymakers, we must identify the good practices that have made the Catalan ecosystem so successful and see how we can replicate them in countries such as Greece, where I come from, and in other regions of Europe.”
The meeting addressed two key areas for the future of health in Europe. On the one hand, the panel “ATMP: from hospital innovation to scalable access” analysed how to scale hospital innovations in advanced therapies and facilitate access to them. The session was moderated by Ramon Maspons, Director of Health Strategy and Innovation at the Ministry of Health of the Government of Catalonia, and featured Lydia Shotton, Associate Director for Government Affairs Europe at the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine; David Morrow, Scientific Lead for Advanced Therapies at EATRIS-ERIC; Miguel Forte, President of the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy and CEO and co-founder of Kiji Therapeutics; and Anke Van der Perren, Clinical Research Coordinator at UZ Leuven.
On the other hand, the round table “Clinical trials: making Europe more competitive, efficient and patient-centred” focused on how to make clinical trials in Europe more competitive, efficient and patient-oriented. The session was moderated by Ebba Hallersjö Hult, co-founder and Head of Vision Zero Cancer and member of PRECISEU’s Advisory Board, and featured Julio Delgado, Head of the Oncoimmunotherapy Unit at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona; Francisco Lozano, Chair of the Board of Directors of Cancer Patients Europe; and Anke Van der Perren, Clinical Research Coordinator at KU Leuven.
According to Daniel Gassmann, Head of Sector at EISMEA, "this high-level meeting has highlighted the value of the project. I found it highly relevant how PRECISEU is connecting regions, institutions and professionals who probably would not have worked together without this European impetus and regional co-funding. Beyond its impact in the healthcare field, the project has great value because it strengthens innovation ecosystems and creates new opportunities for collaboration between territories.”
The event concluded with a reflection by Anna-Pia Papageorgiou, from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, on the Choose Europe for Life Sciences strategy, and on the challenges and solutions identified by the experts taking part in the session.
The closing remarks were delivered by Robert Fabregat, CEO of Biocat, the coordinating organisation of PRECISEU, addressing the role of innovative territories such as the BioRegion and of ecosystems connected through instruments such as PRECISEU in implementing the mechanisms included in the Biotech Act.
With this meeting at the European Parliament, PRECISEU strengthens its role as an interregional cooperation platform to transform Europe’s scientific, clinical and industrial capabilities into concrete public action priorities, contributing to a more competitive, connected Europe focused on patient access to innovation.
