Swedish expert praises potential of precision medicine, call for more collaboration

Precision medicine brings a great benefit to patients and leads to better treatments for more diseases, but more dialogue and collaboration between state and stakeholders is needed, according to Swedish experts who spoke to Euractiv in an interview.

Annika Östman Wernerson, president of the Karolinska Institutet (KI) in Stockholm, one of the world’s leading medical universities, explained that sifting through vast amounts of data to find the right molecular mechanisms behind diseases is as crucial as clinical research.

“Finding the right molecular causes or mechanisms of illnesses can lead to more precise new treatments for more diseases,” she told Euractiv, adding, “To work in this new way, we could discover, for example, that what we thought was one disease is several different diseases.”

Wernerson gave the example of this year’s Nobel Prize Laureate, Katalin Karikó, who started with basic mRNA research that -in collaboration with Drew Weissman- eventually led to an mRNA-based COVID vaccine that has affected and saved millions of people.

The two researchers, who met by chance at a photocopier at the University of Pennsylvania and went on to become colleagues, travelled to Stockholm on Sunday (10 December) to receive the Nobel Prize from Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Meanwhile, Wernerson, a professor of renal and transplant sciences and a specialist in clinical pathology, took up the post as president of KI, one of Europe’s top ten medical universities, in March 2023.

According to the 2022/2023 QS World Ranking of Universities, Karolinska Institutet was ranked 4th in Europe and 7th globally in medicine.

Wernerson is also the first-ever president of KI to be offered a seat on the Swedish Medical Products Agency board this autumn, nominated by the Swedish government. And she accepted.

“I think my skills will complement those of the other board members”, she answered when asked by Euractiv about her role on the board.

“At KI, we also do a lot of research on new drug development, and I appreciate input from the outside that can help us get new insights into what the challenges and opportunities might be in the sector so that we can continue to create good conditions for drug innovation.”

New agreement with Charité

The university also has long-standing research agreements with partners across Europe and beyond.

Earlier this autumn, the KI and its sister hospital, the Karolinska University Hospital, signed a new Memorandum of understanding with the renowned university hospital Charité in Berlin.

They already collaborate in medical fields such as cardiology and precision medicine and will further share best practices in medical research and university governance. According to KI’s president, they will also support each other to achieve even stronger positions on issues within the EU.

“There is so much going on in medicine. For example, the huge amounts of data we’re generating, which is the basis for precision medicine, and where, if we’re to be excellent, we also need to find ways to collaborate even more with the life sciences industry,” she said.

Global health issues, such as the health effects of climate change, are also among the challenges she believes must be addressed through more collaboration.

“As climate change continues, we may see more people working in zones with high temperatures. And we also see common lifestyle diseases such as obesity and diabetes increasing in low and middle-income countries. These are global issues that we need to work on together”, said Wernerson.

More collaboration is essential

According to KI’s president, Sweden must now set important strategic research priorities in medicine and life sciences. The university had several suggestions, with a research proposal expected from the government in 2024.

These include improving the efficiency of health data sharing between healthcare providers and researchers while protecting patients’ privacy, creating a national programme focusing on research and development and precision medicine, and reinstating funding for research that has been cut.

In addition, KI wants to see the creation of grants or bonuses to facilitate the participation of universities and researchers in EU projects that require co-funding. Furthermore, they want to see a national coordinator who can carry out a balanced risk analysis when collaborating with international researchers.

[By Monica Kleja, edited by Vasiliki Angouridi | Euractiv.com]

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