Every European citizen should have access to the best quality medical care at the best possible price. Pan-European cooperation on health technology assessments (HTA) is essential for such aspirations.

Joint Actions are projects designed and financed by Member State Authorities and the EU to address specific priorities under the EU Health Program.

EHA welcomes initiatives but calls for more focus on causes

Medicine shortages have a negative impact on the quality and cost of treatments and on patient access to the best possible care. EHA has helped flag the problem with policymakers and regulators, but lack of data and understanding of the causes make it notoriously difficult to tackle.

Precision medicine approaches the treatment of a disease via an individual’s genes, environment, and lifestyle.

The paper, titled ‘Sustainability and affordability of cancer drugs: a novel pricing model’ and written by Professor Carin Uyl-de Groot and Professor Bob Lӧwenberg from Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands, proposes an algorithm that should be used to determine innovative drug prices with ‘a maximum level of transparency’.

With preparations under way for the EU’s next Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP9), the BioMed Alliance has called for more robust EU support for health research. In a recent position paper, the alliance makes the case for increased funding for basic, clinical and translational research and for the development of a long-term vision and strategy involving the creation of a European Council for Health Research.

In an article published in Science|Business, Prof.

EHA is an active member of the Alliance for Biomedical Research in Europe (BioMed Alliance), in which Europe’s leading medical societies have joined forces to represent the interests of over 400,000 researchers and health professionals.

On Saturday 11 June, a session in the Patient Advocacy Track focused on the emerging European Reference Networks (ERNs).

The Hague, January 27, 2016 In the February 2016 issue of Haematologica, critical research of blood and blood-forming organs in Europe is given a boost. The European Hematology Association Roadmap for European Hematology Research: A Consensus Document summarizes the current status of basic, translational and clinical hematology research and identifies areas of unmet scientific and medical need in Europe. It provides guidance for European and national policy makers, funding agencies, charities, research institutes and researchers when they make decisions on initiating or funding research and developing research programs.

You may have heard of European Reference Networks (ERNs). But most likely you have not because they do not exist yet. ERNs are networks of specialized hospital departments and research centers to treat rare or low-prevalent complex diseases and they are foreseen to be established by the end of this year. EHA wants to support the establishment of an ERN for Rare Hematological Diseases.

We need your input to improve Horizon 2020 and the next Research and Innovation Framework Programme of the European Union.

On October 6, 2015, the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) launched its 6^th Call for proposals under IMI 2. This call includes, under the program “Big Data for Better Outcomes programme”, the topic:
Development of an outcomes-focused platform to empower policy makers and clinicians to optimize care for patients with hematologic malignancies.

At the Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) – attracting 10,000 hematologists from Europe and beyond - the president of EHA, Prof. Christine Chomienne, called upon the European Union to deliver funding for Research into Blood Disorders:

“The hematologists in Europe have done a great work. Now it’s the EU’s turn to deliver.”

By European Alliance for Personalised Medicine (EAPM) Executive Director Denis Horgan (Source: EU Reporter Correspondent | June 5, 2015)