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5 months ago
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The Sino-EU PerMed project was created in 2020 to foster cooperation between Europe and China in personalised medicine. As the project prepares to wrap up, Euractiv spoke with Gianni D’Errico, Head of Project Management Office at Toscana Life Sciences, to discuss lessons learned and the road ahead.
Euractiv: The Sino-EU PerMed project was launched in January 2020 and will end in June 2024. What was the purpose of the project, what did it set out to achieve, and what are the expected outcomes?
Gianni D’Errico: Sino-EU PerMed was created with the aim of fostering cooperation between Europe and China in Personalised Medicine. It has been funded by Horizon 2020 and kicked off in January 2020.
It established a unique bi-regional consortium of 6 partners from governmental, funding and research organisations supported by leading stakeholders as associated partners to promote personalised medicine cooperation between Europe and China.
The project was set up as part of a concerted larger effort by the European Commission to increase international collaboration to promote personalised medicine and 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.
The main outcomes of the project can be summarized as obtaining a clearer overview of the research and innovation landscape on personalised medicine in China; a better understanding of the main opportunities and hurdles in the development and implementation of personalised medicine cooperation; as well as establishing contacts with the key stakeholders, with whom we have initiated a science, technology and policy dialogue.
In terms of outcomes, we refer especially to the creation of a patents database, scientific publications and preprints on personalised medicine on a global scale, and between China and Europe, which is freely accessible on our Sino-Eu PerMed projects homepage, and the publication of two policy papers to promote further development of personalised medicine.
Euractiv: Personalised medicine is not a new concept, but one that has evolved a lot in recent years thanks to new technologies, new research, and innovation. How do you see it developing in the next 10 years, and how will European citizens see direct benefits from it?
Gianni D’Errico: The term ‘personalised medicine’ first appeared in published works in 1999, and since then has served as a catch-all term that is often used synonymously with genomic medicine or precision medicine. Since then, it has attracted public and private investments driving discoveries and making more evident the potential benefits for the patients, citizens and society as a whole.
In the last 20 years, scientific and financial efforts have mainly been concentrated on basic and translational research.
However, in the last 5 years, we have seen an increasing focus on the implementation of personalised medicine in healthcare and I expect that in the years to come this trend will increase dramatically.
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.
Euractiv: Why was China chosen as the country to collaborate with on this project? What did you learn from your Chinese counterparts that can benefit Europe in the future?
Gianni D’Errico: Since 2005, China has become the second largest spender on research and development globally). In 2016 the announcement of the China Precision Medicine Initiative – a 15-year program worth $9.2 billion – has radically changed the healthcare regime in the country and aims to ensure China remains a driver in personalised medicine.
China’s personalised medicine strategy is primarily focused on genome sequencing approaches and cloud-based genomics.
The growing attention to personalised medicine in China is confirmed by the $312 million investments in molecular diagnostics in the US between 2000 and 2017, making this segment the fourth largest among all Chinese biotech investments, most of which are related to diagnostic testing services.
The importance of China for the EU, and the ICPerMed was evident, as is the need to analyse the current level of cooperation and exploration of ways to reinforce cooperation with Chinese institutions.
Sino-EU cooperation is another piece that can accelerate the improvement of the quality of care provided by governments and promote well-being.
Euractiv: The project took place at a time of heightened geo-political tensions between the EU and China. Did this impact the collaboration or attempts to foster a level of enhanced cooperation with your Chinese partners?
Gianni D’Errico: In addition to existing geopolitical tensions, we also had to manage the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the project. Especially in the early years of the project, we had to work hard to get in touch with personalised medicine stakeholders in China.
The project has nevertheless made it possible to resume the dialogue between the scientific communities in Europe and China in the field of personalised medicine, especially in recent years.
This dialogue is important to ensure cooperation on eye level and to discuss existing regulatory frameworks that hamper cooperation, and through these dialogues, 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.
These recommendations have been published in two policy briefs and can be found on the project website. Despite the geopolitical tensions, constructive interactions at the science level were thus very fruitful.
Euractiv: The regulatory frameworks in the EU and China can differ considerably, data privacy is an example. Was this, or will this, be a barrier to collaboration?
Gianni D’Errico: Indeed, a fundamental barrier – but not the only one – that currently complicates personalised medicine cooperation is the data protection regulations in place in the EU and China, and how the regulations are set and administered.
In China, for example, health-related data are treated as a national priority while in Europe the health-related data belong to a single person.
In Europe, the general principle of the General Data Protection Regulation together with the upcoming European Health Data Space regulation applies.
In China, several laws and regulations came into force over the past years to regulate data use and build a comprehensive yet complex framework. The Data Security Law focuses on national security, public interest and fundamental data.
The Cybersecurity Law focuses on the security of information infrastructures and facilities, and on 1 November 2021, the Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China came into force which added an additional layer to the general data regulation.
All in all, these regulations make it difficult to establish Sino-EU-based collaborations.
Euractiv: When such a project ends, a risk is that the work is not built upon. How confident are you that this project will be a catalyst for a long-standing cooperation between the EU and China in the field of personalised medicine?
Gianni D’Errico: In parallel with the Sino-EU Permed project we have launched the European Partnership on Personalised Medicine (EP PerMed), which gathers 59 Partners and will invest close to €400 million in personalised medicine over the next years.
One of the pillars of the EP PerMed is international collaboration where the outcome of the Sino-EU PerMed has been included and the work will continue.
The relationship with Chinese stakeholders will be maintained through this new initiative and hopefully, we will have a Chinese policy maker or funding agency joining the ICPerMed soon.
[Edited By Brian Maguire | Euractiv’s Advocacy Lab ]
English (US)