ERA-Net 'ERA PerMed' on Personalised Medicine

ERA PerMed (2017-2022) is a ERA-Net Cofund Action on personalised medicine, supported by 32 partners from 23 countries and cofunded by the European Commission. It aims to align national and regional research strategies and funding activities, promoting excellence, reinforcing the competitiveness of European players in personalised medicine, and enhancing the collaboration with non-EU countries.

ICPerMed-related Coordination and Support Actions

Since 2019, the European Union has funded several so-called Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) in support of ICPerMed through its framework programme Horizon 2020. All CSAs focus on different aspects of personalised medicine:

SINO-EU PerMed: Cooperation between China and Europe in Personalised Medicine

The Sino-EU PerMed project started in January 2020. The project received a two million euros grant from the European Framework Programme Horizon 2020. It aims to foster the cooperation between Europe and China in Personalised Medicine in the next four years.

The project is composed of six excellent research and research management entities in Europe and China, namely the German Aerospace Center - Project Management Agency (coordinator), Fondazione Toscana Life Sciences, Innovation Fund Denmark, Health Research Board Ireland, Jiangsu International Technology Transfer Center and Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health.

The European partners are actively involved in ICPerMed as well as related initiatives and activities. Therefore, one of the objectives of this project is to foster collaboration between Chinese health organisations and ICPerMed, and to identify areas of mutual interest.

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HEcoPerMed: Health economic modelling and payment strategies for personalised medicine

HEcoPerMed aims to identify the best health economic modelling and payment strategies for personalised medicine to differentiate between the promises of personalised medicine and reality, and to stimulate the adoption of promising personalised medicine approaches across the EU.

The project responds to the demand for economic models that evaluate treatments made possible through innovations in personalised medicine. HEcoPerMed also seeks to identify funding and reimbursement mechanisms that provide financial incentives for the rapid development and uptake of such innovations. It goes beyond current assessment and payment models in order to serve the need of personalised medicine for more comprehensive cost-effectiveness estimates – incorporating patient and societal perspectives – and for sustainable affordability of cutting-edge health innovations.

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IC2PerMed: Integrating China in the International Consortium for Personalised Medicine

IC2PerMed is a four-year project funded under the Horizon 2020 scheme as a Coordination and Supporting Action (CSA). It is coordinated by Prof. Walter Ricciardi from UCSC, current President of the World Federation of Public Health Associations and Italian Representative at the WHO. The IC2PerMed project aims at providing key solutions for enabling the convergence under ICPerMed of European and Chinese stakeholders, with an orientation towards a Public Health perspective. The project has already started working on the mapping exercise of policies, programmes, standards and initiatives in personalised medicine in Europe and in China. Dissemination and communication actions are ongoing, while a selection of experts for dedicated working groups centred on the ICPerMed Action Plan priorities will start soon. A contribution in this COVID-19 pandemic time was also given by means of an online seminar, organised by the European Network of Research and Innovation of Centres and Hubs (ENRICH) in China, with an insight about the genetic testing technology.

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PERMIT: Personalised Medicine Trials

PERMIT will be based on a series of workshops where the project participants and partners invite selected experts to address the various aspects of methodology, design, data management, analysis and interpretation in personalised medicine research programmes. The objective is to reach consensus and publish recommendations on methodological standards to ensure the scientific excellence, validity, robustness and reproducibility of results, and the acceptability of the results generated by personalised medicine programmes. 

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SAPHIRe: Securing Adoption of Personalised Health in Regions – first newsletter published

SAPHIRe will actively engage with European regions, including sparsely populated and remote regions and regions with different innovation levels. SAPHIRe will host a series of interactive events to understand the barriers and obstacles that exist around the implementation of personalised medicine. SAPHIRe will engage with regional stakeholders (including policy makers, industrial, healthcare and academic sectors) in a two-way discussion, with a view to supporting collaborative efforts and networking activities between regions in the area of personalised medicine.

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Regions4PerMed: First Interregional Workshop on Big Data, Electronic Health Records and Health Governance

The project Regions4PerMed contributes to the achievement of the objectives of the European strategy launched in 2011 with the European Council Conclusion: Towards modern, responsive and sustainable health systems (2011/C 202/04) on and modernisation of the European Healthcare system. In the 2011/C 202/04, particular stress is put on the role of strategic investments in healthcare and the importance of an integrated and interoperable health data sharing system.

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EULAC-PerMed: Widening EU-LAC policy and research cooperation in Personalised Medicine

In order to strengthen the global efforts on Personalized Medicine and the cooperation of Europe (EU) with Latin American and Caribbean (LAC)  countries, the EULAC PerMed project, funded by the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Commission, has been launched in January 2019. A unique bi-regional consortium of governmental and funding organisations, with the support of leading stakeholders as associated partners, will be in charge of developing the project until December 2021.

EULAC PerMed has the ambition to engage LAC countries in the International Consortium on Personalized Medicine (ICPerMed) and in the ERANet ERAPerMed with the aim at advancing in the implementation of the Action Plan of ICPerMed. EULAC PerMed will be the vehicle for:

1. Mapping existing programmes, capacities and expertise and gaps in CELAC countries.
2. Facilitating the incorporation of LAC countries in ICPerMed and in the ERAPerMed.
3. Fostering the participation of LAC countries in research mobility and transnational projects on PerMed, and a platform for EU‐LAC collaboration on clinical trials PerMed focused.
4. Cross-border learning from Research and Innovation  and the ethical, legal and social aspects for implementing innovations between research capacities based in EU and LAC.

Clinical Trials Regulatory and Funding Information
One of the activities of the EU-LAC PerMed project was the Virtual Helpdesk for clinical trials regulatory and funding information. It aimed to provide information on regulatory and funding agencies regarding clinical trials in Latin America and Europe, and to facilitate the establishment of partnerships in clinical trials on Personalised Medicine across countries and regions. This information is available as a report for download here.

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CSA EU-Africa Permed: Building links between Europe and Africa in Personalised Medicine

The 4-year EU-Africa PerMed project started on 1st February 2021 with the overall aim of integrating African countries into ICPerMed activities, thus contributing to a successful implementation of Personalised Medicine (PM) in the global context. It will foster joint PM projects and programmes between Europe and Africa, as well as strengthening bilateral EU-AU science, technology and innovation relations in the area of health. The project will be implemented by a consortium of 13 partners, 6 from Europe and 7 from Africa.

As the COVID-19 pandemic is showing, addressing global health challenges is only possible by building and strengthening international, inter-continental and national scientific cooperation between scientists, decision/policy makers, private practitioners, industries and health professional and civil society. EU-Africa PerMed will work towards fostering a stronger global collaboration in PM through the umbrella of ICPerMed, and by this, to better tackle global health challenges such as infectious diseases and future pandemics as well as the prevention of non-communicable diseases.

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