EuropaBio’s Patient BioForum meets annually to facilitate the exchange of views and expertise on scientific, regulatory, and policy issues between patient organisations and the biopharmaceutical industry.
In recent years, unmet medical needs have been at the core of Europe’s pharmaceutical and public health policies. Addressing unmet medical need was outline as a central to the 2020 Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe. One perceived shortcoming of the current legislative frameworks is insufficient stimulated development in some areas of ‘unmet medical need’ (UMN) such as antimicrobial resistance or rare diseases. The upcoming revision of the EU pharmaceutical legislation and orphan and paediatric legislation will aim at addressing “unmet medical needs”.
A major hurdle to overcome is reaching a common understanding of unmet medical needs as stakeholders have different understanding of the concept based on different perceptions and expectations. Unmet medical need is scientific concept which can be used to identify patient and societal health needs and stimulate research activities. As science progresses, and with it the knowledge to address unmet medical needs, these needs will evolve over time from improving mortality, modifying disease progression, improving quality of life, burden of the disease, and potentially curing.
Bringing together multiple stakeholder groups, including patients and industry, the 2022 Patient BioForum is an opportunity to listen to patients’ understandings and experiences with unmet medical needs and facilitate progress towards a common understanding on unmet medical needs.
Speakers
Moderator
Algal Omega-3 is an innovative feed product for aquaculture. It reduces the impact on climate change by 30-40% compared to fish oil and saves 60 tons of wild fish for every ton of Algal Omega-3 used.
Cheese is a vegetarian product thanks to biotechnology. Biotechnology is also essential to produce lactose- or cholesterol-free cheese, as well as alternative proteins.
Clothes made from alternative fibres produced by microorganisms can be 8x stronger than steel, 100% recyclable, biodegradable and replace fossil-fuel based or resource-intensive textiles.
The biomanufacturing of Vitamin B2 led to the reduction of 75% of fossil raw materials and 50% operating costs, compared to the chemical process. Vitamin B2 is used in the food, feed or healthcare sectors.
Enzymes and biosurfactancts are alternative ingredients that improve the performance of detergents, while leading to water and energy savings and reductions in CO2 emissions and water toxicity.
Insulin is one of the most widely known biopharmaceutical. Biotechnology revolutionised its manufacturing process and led to the development of new types of insulin through r-DNA technology.