Working together for a stronger Europe

The EU Health Coalition is a good example of how various health stakeholders can team up and work together to challenge pressing policy issues. With different backgrounds and expertise, representatives from academia, medical societies, industry, patient community sit around the table, vet what it is working in the current EU system and what should be improved. While acknowledging our differences, we focus on the common ground by proposing recommendations and bringing together healthcare community and decision makers.

The Biomedical Alliance in Europe (BioMed Alliance) has joined EU Health Coalition and has taken the lead to coordinate the Research and Innovation policy group. The Research and Innovation Policy Group calls for more collaboration, cross-sectorial involvement and the streamlining of EU research projects.

It reflects on the new dynamics of research and on what it is needed to boost coherence and visibility in European health research.

Researchers and clinicians have to face an array of hurdles within the innovation cycle such as stringent regulatory frameworks and the quest for funding. They need to provide cutting edge outcomes to tackle societal challenges like chronic diseases and Europe’s aging population. In addition to that, they must keep up with disruptive innovation (genome sequencing, big data, novel therapies and devices) and find solutions to embed them into healthcare systems and consequently into the day-to-day lives of patients.

Researchers and clinicians are slowly but surely, opening their labs to various experts and taking on board leading projects which demand cross-border collaboration and multidisciplinary approaches. Successful projects such as developing cancer immunotherapy or methods of intravascular catheterization have thrived as a result of a wide range of stakeholders’ involvement from academia, industry, and patients to decision makers.

The BioMed Alliance involvement in the EU Health Coalition indicates our biomedical research community’s determination to shift the traditional way of how health research is designed and implemented. It also represents one of our ambitions to connect even more with a wide range of stakeholders, exchange expertise and opinions and cooperate with EU Health Coalition members and high-level decision makers to propose solutions to key societal challenges.

The value of the European project lies in the continuous efforts to address societal challenges and health inequalities among EU citizens and in ensuring Europe remains a key player in research and innovation field. The EU Health Coalition and its members aim to contribute to this outstanding project by setting a collaborative and multidisciplinary pathway forward.

Loredana Simulescu, Senior Policy Officer, Biomedical Alliance in Europe