Three Catalan initiatives recognized at PRECISEU Best Practice Recognition 2025

Genomcore, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, and the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) are the three BioRegion organizations awarded in the four categories of the European awards PRECISEU Best Practice Recognition 2025, announced today during the PRECISEU General Assembly in Vilnius. The awards recognize transformative practices that are driving the future of personalized medicine and advanced therapies in Europe. 

PRECISEU Best Practice Recognition is an initiative that highlights leading projects in personalized medicine across Europe in four areas: impact on healthcare, innovation, patient engagement culture, and excellence in the use of health data. The goal is to raise awareness of practices that make a real difference for patients and that can inspire adoption on an international level. In this first edition of the PRECISEU Best Practice Recognition, the organizers received 68 submissions from various European countries. The award ceremony will take place shortly after the first anniversary of PRECISEU, marking twelve months of intensive work connecting key stakeholders in personalized medicine around Europe, with Biocat serving as the coordinating entity. 

The judges for this edition, all of which are international experts in personalized medicine, clinical research and patient engagement, evaluated the initiatives on their innovation, impact and transformative potential for patient health. The panel of judges featured Carina Escobar (Spanish Platform of Patient Organizations), Jan-Willem Boiten (Lygature), Mario Richter (AbbVie), Richard Rosenquist Brandell (Karolinska Institutet), Antanas Montvila (Kaunas Clinics Hospital), Diana Vertelkienė (iVita), Cindy Körner (NCT), Petko Valov (European Health Institute) and Lidiya Stoykova–Chorbanova (European Health Institute). 

Among the best practices recognized, the BioRegion had a particularly prominent presence: leadership or direct participation by Catalan organizations was recognized in three of the four categories:

• IMPACT Category: DIPCAN (Genomcore). The project, represented by Miquel A. Bru, accelerates European innovation in advanced therapies (ATMP) through the use of EHDS-compliant federated data, advanced multimodal AI analytics, and trusted regulatory strategies, enabling personalized clinical progress.
• CULTURE Category: ENGAGE-ATMP (Sant Joan de Déu Hospital). Led by Alessandra Magnani, Joan Vinyets, and Begonya Nafria, it is a translational, patient-centered model that fosters their involvement from the earliest phases of ATMP research, promoting more acceptable and holistic treatments.
• EXCELLENCE Category: PragmaTIL (VHIO). The project, with the participation of Silvia Martín Lluesma, Elena Garralda, Alena Gros, and Inés Vaz-Luis, works to optimize TIL cell immunotherapy and strengthen its clinical use in academic hospitals, with decentralized production and exemplary health data management.

In the INNOVATION Category, aimed at startups and spin-offs redefining personalized care through emerging technologies, the award went to the UK-based OPORA Health, an AI-ready platform that supports research and mental health care (PTSD) in war-affected populations, with international participation. 

The award ceremony featured European institutional representatives, video presentations of each project and speeches from the judges, as well as Biocat Strategic Foresight and International Relations Director Montse Daban, representing the coordinating entity of PRECISEU. 

With this recognition, the awarded projects will gain Europe-wide visibility, mentorship opportunities and participation in international conferences, helping accelerate the adoption of safe, innovative practices to benefit patients. 

PRECISEU is a European project that connects organizations and experts to foster the implementation of personalized medicine and advanced therapies across the continent. The project aims to establish common standards, promote transnational collaboration and foster best practices that improve healthcare. Biocat, as an active member of PRECISEU and the entity coordinating the BioRegion of Catalonia, helps raise the international profile of Catalan stakeholders, connect them with innovation ecosystems in other countries and bring the sector’s voice into European healthcare strategies.