PRECISEU over 18 months: connecting regions, European impact and tangible results in personalized medicine
Eighteen months ago, PRECISEU was launched. It is a major personalized medicine project under the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Programme, seeking to create an interregional ecosystem in personalized medicine and advanced therapies. The initiative, which has become a key pillar of the new European life sciences strategy, has had a notable impact over this first year and a half.
Data from the first year and a half of PRECISEU, a major personalized medicine project under the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Programme that aims to build an interregional ecosystem in personalized medicine and advanced therapies, points to the project’s notable impact, consolidating its growing presence within the European health innovation ecosystem.
The project’s LinkedIn community now has over 1,300 followers, a significant number for a European initiative. This digital visibility has been further strengthened by the initiative’s participation in international events: in just 18 months, PRECISEU has taken part in or co-organized approximately two public events a month (more than 30 in total), as well as organizing an international hackathon, two personalized medicine schools and a call for best practices in the field.
At the same time, the project has generated high value strategic knowledge. Through the European Commission, it has published seven expert reports on key issues like secondary use of data, market access for ATMPs and relevant initiatives in personalized medicine. It has also mapped European capabilities in advanced therapies and produced three sector reports on the state of the sector in the countries holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union during the project’s first three semesters: Hungary, Poland and Denmark.
The project has an Advisory Board with 11 international experts from clinical practice, industry, research, health policy and patient organizations. The board acts as a strategic guide, ensuring that project actions are aligned with the main European policies and the real needs of healthcare systems. Its multidisciplinary makeup strengthens PRECISEU’s ability to address regulatory, technological and clinical adoption challenges from a transversal perspective.
PRECISEU’s impact is also clear on a regional level. In Catalonia, for example, Genomcore has been recognized in the PRECISEU Best Practice initiative for its experience in advanced data use and governance in projects like DIPCAN. This type of recognition shows how the project is creating opportunities for local stakeholders while accelerating interregional connections and bolstering preparedness for upcoming interregional funding calls.
Next steps: toward a more integrated, personalized Europe
The coming months will be key: implementing calls and consolidating interregional projects will allow Europe to move cohesively toward personalized medicine, reducing fragmentation and boosting collaboration among regions, hospitals, industries and patients. And it will see the kickoff of tasks to analyze challenges and solutions related to reimbursement and adoption of personalized medicine in Europe.
As PRECISEU advances, the first calls for funding are approaching. These Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP) calls will help drive interregional projects in personalized medicine, health data and near-to-market biotechnology. The call for expressions of interest to access funding (€11.5 million) will launch in the first quarter of 2026.
The short term pipeline also includes the PRECISEU Policy Program, a design thinking initiative for policymakers that aims to connect policy decision makers and implementers with innovators, industry experts and healthcare professionals who are developing advances in personalized medicine. The Catalonia edition will be held next spring, with the goal of strengthening innovation enablers and reducing barriers.
PRECISEU brings together 25 partners from 12 European regions in 10 Member States, as well as Ukraine, a Horizon Europe Programme associated country. Catalonia stands out as the region with the most partners, with Biocat as the coordinator, alongside the Catalan Ministry of Health, ACCIÓ, Barcelona Supercomputing Center and AstraZeneca. With a budget of nearly €23 million, this five-year macro project (2024–2029) was one of five winners of the highly competitive Regional Innovation Valleys (RIV) call for European innovation ecosystems, and the only one in this arena.