Th. 7
December
2023
WELCOMING REMARKS
OPENING CONVERSATION: "ADVANCING EUROPE’S LEADERSHIP IN THE RESPONSE TO RARE DISEASES: WHERE ARE WE, WHAT NEXT?”
PANEL DISCUSSION: WHAT OUTLOOK FOR EUROPEAN POLICY IN RARE DISEASE BY 2030? HOW TO SUPPORT AN INNOVATIVE ECOSYSTEM FOR THE BENEFIT OF PATIENTS?
Transformative therapies hold the promise for a cure for many patients with rare and serious life-threatening diseases. However, they come with scientific, regulatory, technological and ethical challenges that need to be overcome to ensure their uptake by health systems and patients’ access. They have been the subject of growing attention at EU policy level, with multiple debates covering a wide range of issues, from equal patients’ access to data gaps, healthcare systems sustainability, or cross border healthcare. These have been fueled by increasing momentum for a new EU Action Plan on rare diseases, alongside the shaping of the EU Pharmaceutical Strategy, and the revision of the EU legislation on orphan and pediatric medicines. Further, the Trio of EU Council Presidencies for January 2022-June 2023 (France, Czechia, Sweden) has put rare diseases as a priority of the health agenda, driving political impetus in the field.
PANEL DISCUSSION: HERA AND THE ROLE OF PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS
The European Commission’s Health Emergency preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) was set up in 2021 to enhance Europe`s ability to quickly respond to cross border healthcare threats and ensure health security. It will do so by ensuring the timely development, manufacture, procurement, and equitable distribution of essential medical countermeasures, by relying on a strong public private partnership. HERA is currently operational. However, certain gaps and unclarities still remain and this panel will gather relevant cross-sectorial actors to discuss and address them.
AI FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES IN HEALTHCARE - A CASE STUDY OF REGIONAL SUPPORT
On April 24, 2018, the European Commission published a communication on the transformation of digital health. The Commission thus affirms its intention to accelerate the use of the digital tool to improve access to healthcare, prevention, diagnostics, and solutions thanks to high-performance computing. This project opens the door to an intensification of numerous research and industrial projects in Europe. It also asks questions related to data sharing and cyber security. Wallonia is one of the most successful regions in Europe in the field of medical technologies. These performances are based on numerous medical research but also on the BIOWIN competitiveness cluster.
The region’s industry and its researchers want to be part of the European project that the health crisis has amplified.
This session is organized in partnership with Wallonia Meets EU and Wallonia-Brussels International.
CLOSING REMARKS
NETWORKING LUNCH