As China-EU medicines partnership comes to an end, what comes next? [Advocacy Lab Content]

As tensions between the European Union and China continue to simmer, could a Sino-EU personalised medicine project bridge gaps and foster bilateral cooperation?

In January 2020, the Sino-EU PerMed project was launched as a bi-regional consortium of six partners from governmental, funding and research organisations. It’s aim was to promote personalised medicine cooperation between Europe and China, with the support of leading stakeholders.

The project, which came to an end this month, was part of a greater effort by the European Commission to increase international collaboration, explained Gianni D’Errico, head of Project Management Office at Toscana Life Sciences in an interview with Euractiv.

“It was devised to engage China in the International Consortium on Personalised Medicine [ICPerMed], an EU-member-states-driven initiative, and advance the implementation of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda on personalised medicine,” he said.

Benefits for European citizens

Achievements of the project include obtaining a clearer overview of the research and innovation landscape on personalised medicine in China and the creation of a patents database, as well as the publication of two policy papers to promote further development of personalised medicine.

While the concept of personalised medicine has been around since the late ‘90s, it has gained much attention in the last five years, with increased focus on its implementation in healthcare.

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has said that the initiative is an opportunity to convert the “one size fits all” approach to diagnostics and drug therapy and prevention into an individualised approach. When discussing concrete benefits for European citizens, D’Errico pointed out that, “an important aspect will be a public-private partnership that will de-risk investments as well as the creation of innovative start-ups that will bring personalised medicine closer and closer to patients and citizens.”

Why China?

As bilateral relations between China and the EU have proven rocky over the years, with tensions recently simmering and seeming to go in the direction of a trade war, getting China on board this project was of significant importance. “Through dialogue, we have been able to develop policy recommendations together with researchers from the fields of science and technology as well as experts on ethical, legal and social aspects,” he said. “Despite geopolitical tensions, constructive interactions at the science level were very fruitful.”

He mentioned China’s large expenditures on research and development globally, citing a $9.2 billion program called China Precision Medicine Initiative, which has changed the domestic healthcare regime and aims to ensure the country remains a leader in personalised medicine.

D’Errico also mentioned the $312 million investments from China in molecular diagnostics in the US for the period 2000-2017, making the segment the fourth largest among all Chinese biotech investments.

Bridging barriers

One of the most common barriers to collaboration are data protection regulations, which differ between the EU and China. While health-related data in Europe belongs to a single person, it is treated as a national priority in China.

D’Errico mentioned a number of regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Security Law, the Cybersecurity Law, which make it difficult to establish Sino-EU-based collaborations.

As the project comes to an end, he stressed that it will be important to build upon the work done so far. In that vain, he announced the launch of the European Partnership on Personalised Medicine (EP PerMed), where the relationship established with Chinese stakeholders will continue, with hopes that a Chinese policy maker or funding agency could join the ICPerMed soon.

Read more with Euractiv