Minister Irujo highlights the strength of the personalized medicine sector in Navarra, at the congress organized by the international consortium ICPerMed held in Pamplona
The Minister of Economic and Business Development, Mikel Irujo, has participated this morning in the opening of the personalized medicine congress that the international consortium for personalized medicine (ICPerMed) is celebrating in Pamplona / Iruña on January 17 and 18 and which has brought together more than 100 international experts. During his speech, the counselor highlighted the strength of the personalized medicine sector in our community.
“Navarra stands out for its great strengths around the entire value chain of the Health sector. Within the sectors of the Smart Specialization Strategy of Navarra S4, this sector is the one that has grown the most, reaching 793 million”, highlighted Irujo. The counselor also pointed out that “Navarra was the first region in Spain to develop a personalized medicine strategy. A strategy elaborated by three Departments, Health, Innovation and Economic Development. What makes us leaders in their development”.
To conclude, Minister Irujo also wanted to highlight “the importance of having two leading health research centers in Navarra, Navarrabiomed and CIMA. Both have quality clinical services and a health sector that employs more than 31,500 people, of which 2,500 are linked to the industry”.
Personalized medicine is also one of the challenges included in the call for grants for Strategic R&D Projects. Since 2017, the first year of these grants, 17 projects related to genomics and applied medicine (GEMA Challenge) have been developed. In total, these projects have had a budget of 27.9 million euros, of which 25.3 million have been funds that came from these grants.
Among others, projects have been developed that investigate the genetic modification of lymphocytes to treat cancer (DESCARTHeS project), on how to treat breast cancer (BLANCA project and NAGEN Mx project), or that have deepened the knowledge and use of the complete genome analysis technology (NAGENCOL Project), among others.
ICPerMed
The congress that is being held in Pamplona is organized by the international consortium for personalized medicine (ICPerMed), it has had the collaboration of the Government of Navarra and the Carlos III Institute and the support of the European Commission.
ICPerMed provides a platform to initiate and support communication and exchange on personalized medicine research, funding, and implementation. ICPerMed brings together more than 50 European and international partners from 30 countries representing ministries, funding agencies and the European Commission. With the support of the ICPerMed Secretariat, the consortium works to coordinate and support research to develop approaches to personalized medicine.
During the congress, ICPerMed members and experts discussed key areas of personalized medicine in four dedicated sessions: patient and citizen engagement and education, regional and international perspectives, innovation system and industry collaboration, and healthcare system implementation. Plenary lectures providing input and best practice examples were followed by panel discussions with experts from various fields.
“The discussions and information gathered here give us important insight into the challenges involved in implementing personalized medicine approaches,” said Wolfgang Ballensiefen, designated coordinator of EP PerMed (European Partnership for Personalized Medicine) at the project management agency at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). “In this way, we are able to update the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda and gather crucial information and developments for the planned annual Joint Transnational Calls and other planned activities of EP PerMed.”
Starting in late 2023, the PerMed EP will advance personalized medicine through joint transnational coordination, funding efforts, and support activities. Over the next 10 years, the partnership’s actions will stimulate countries to more quickly tap into the potential on offer, which in turn will lead to optimized and sustainable healthcare.
