Spahn and Karliczek: "Deliver the opportunities of personalized medicine to the patient"
The first conference of the International Consortium for Personalised Medicine (ICPerMed) kicks off today in Berlin. Clinicians and researchers as well as representatives of research funding organizations and healthcare professionals are meeting to discuss together with patients how the latest findings in research on personalized medicine can be translated more quickly into medical practice. Germany’s Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research are co-hosting the conference.
Livestream
Here can be viewed a livestream of the conference: www.icpermed.eu
Personalized treatments are the way of the future in modern medicine. They give patients even more hope of being cured. This is why I am pushing hard to see that such innovative treatments are put into medical practice as quickly as possible once they have proven their benefit. We must also keep a constant eye on the economic viability of our healthcare system as a whole.
Every human being is unique, and so is their health and their reaction to drugs and treatments. Medical treatment must therefore be tailored to the individual to increase the chances of cure and reduce side effects. The research funding which we provide is laying the scientific foundations for personalized medicine. My priority is to see that the research findings can be put to use for the benefit of patients as quickly as possible. It calls upon everyone to work together – science, industry, lawmakers and healthcare professionals.
The ICPerMed conference is taking place on 20-21 November and will bring together some 400 experts from more than 40 countries. ICPerMed member countries will be introducing best practice examples of clinical implementation of personalized medicine, for example in the treatment of lung cancer, rare diseases or hypercholesterolaemia. Other presentations will shed light on various aspects of personalized medicine and introduce approaches which enable personalized medicine to be implemented in populous countries like India and China.
ICPerMed brings together more than 40 European and international partners from ministries, research funding organizations and the European Commission. The main aim of ICPerMed is to coordinate research and efforts to implement personalized medicine at European and international level and to promote exchange among the stakeholders.
Personalized medicine enjoys high priority in the Health Research Framework Programme of the German Federal Government. Since 2013 the Federal Research Ministry has provided some 360 million euros in funding for projects on research and the implementation of personalized medicine. In 2019 the Federal Ministry of Health will initiate national funding worth 1.5 million euros for ERA-Net PerMed.