PRECISEU: personalised medicine project with three regional partners kicks off

The kickoff meeting of PRECISEU (PeRsonalised medicine Empowerment Connecting Innovation ecoSystems across EUrope) took place these days in Barcelona, an ambitious project funded by the European Union under the HORIZON-EIE-2023-CONNECT-03 programme, which aims to connect innovation ecosystems across Europe to effectively advance towards a truly personalised healthcare. How? By transferring practices and solutions from region to region and scaling deep-tech healthcare innovations based on ATMPs and health data across Europe.

The PRECISEU consortium consists of regional authorities and innovation actors from nine NUTS 1 and 2 regions, supported by clusters, universities, research centres and infrastructures, NGOs and networks, involving regional and European innovators, scientists and entrepreneurs in the EU health innovation space. These include Clust-ER Health, ART-ER and the Emilia-Romagna Region.

PRECISEU is a flagship project within the Horizon Europe Programme, aligned with the Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda for Personalised Medicine (SRIA) developed by the European EP PerMed consortium. This alignment ensures that PRECISEU complements the broader European initiatives aimed at achieving a more preventive, predictive, personalised, participatory and patient-centred healthcare system, commonly known as the 5P medicine model.

The objectives of the project

The overall objective of PRECISEU is to foster the seamless integration of personalised medicine in European healthcare systems. The project aims to achieve this through several key objectives:

1. 1. Accelerating the Adoption of Personalised Medicine: PRECISEU aims to reduce fragmentation and inequalities in the EU by facilitating the implementation of advanced technological innovations in various ecosystems with different levels of innovation, resources, strategies and policies.
2. 2. Connecting Innovation Ecosystems: By creating networks that connect innovation ecosystems across Europe, PRECISEU strives to move towards truly personalised healthcare.
3. 3. Transfer of Practices and Solutions: The project will contribute to the transfer of practices and solutions between European regions, ensuring that successful innovations in one region can be replicated and adapted in others.
4. 4. Support for Technological Innovations: Based on the pillars of healthcare data and advanced therapies, PRECISEU will support the scalability of advanced technological innovations in healthcare, including diagnostics and treatments tailored to individual patient needs.

Consortium and collaboration

The project harnesses the experience and capabilities of a diverse consortium of 25 partners from 12 European regions, 10 EU member states and one associated country (Ukraine). The main partners include:

• Biocat, a public-private foundation and coordinator of the project, which drives the growth of the life sciences and health ecosystem in Catalonia, with which Clust-ER Health already collaborates within various networks, such as the Council of European BioRegions (CEBR).
• Regional Authorities, including the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy and the Gothenburg Region in Sweden.
• Innovation Agencies, such as ART-ER, the Municipal Privatisation and Investment Agency of Sofia and the Innovation Agency of Lithuania.
• Clusters and Research Infrastructures, including Clust-ER Health, but also BIORN in Germany and EATRIS in the Netherlands.
• Global pharmaceutical companies, most notably AstraZeneca.
• Patient organisations, such as the Platform of Patient Organisations in Madrid.

PRECISEU has secured a budget of almost EUR 23 million for a duration of five years, starting on 1 July 2024 and ending on 30 June 2029. This significant investment underlines the EU’s commitment to foster innovation and address critical challenges in personalised medicine.

The Role of the Emilia-Romagna regional partners

Clust-ER Health

Clust-ER Health, one of the main Italian partners of the project, plays a crucial role in connecting the different regional competences and infrastructures. In fact, it will be involved in several work packages, which concern interregional collaboration and partnership building, the mapping processes of methodologies used in the field of personalised medicine, the creation of multi-stakeholder infrastructures for access to ATMPs and the improvement of health data interoperability.

ART-ER

ART-ER, another core partner, is the leader of WP4, which focuses on the use of health data. This includes the design and implementation of a framework to assess the readiness/maturity of national, regional and local health information systems and infrastructures for secondary data use. ART-ER will also guide the definition of requirements, gaps and costs for hosting, curation and processing of health data.

Emilia-Romagna Region (RER)

The Emilia-Romagna Region (RER) is involved with as many as two directorates-general within the project: the Health and Social Services Innovation sector of the General Directorate for Personal Care, Health and Welfare and the Research, Innovation, Energy and Sustainable Economy sector of the General Directorate for Knowledge Economy, Labour and Enterprise.

With the support of ART-ER and Clust-ER Health, it has a coordinating and supervisory role in project activities, ensuring that PRECISEU’s objectives are aligned with regional innovation and development strategies. In particular, it is committed to facilitating access to infrastructure and resources for advanced therapies across Europe, improving the quality and safety of end products by accelerating scale-up processes to support better patient access.

Key actions and focus areas

1. 1. Use of health data: PRECISEU will promote the use of health data to generate innovative solutions, ensuring that data are accessible, of high quality and interoperable across regions.
2. 2. Advanced therapies: the project will accelerate the development and market access of advanced gene-, tissue- and cell-based therapies, including advanced medical devices.
3. 3. Training and capacity building: professionals and decision-makers will be trained in the key competences and skills needed for the adoption of personalised medicine.
4. 4. Interregional consortia: four large interregional consortia will be funded to develop research and innovation projects focusing on digital health innovation and advanced therapies.

The project outlines several initiatives aimed at promoting the use of health data for research and innovation, developing and accelerating advanced therapies, and facilitating market access and collaboration with industry. In addition, financial support programmes will be set up for companies and entities involved in interregional projects.

Expected impact

PRECISEU is expected to significantly advance personalised healthcare by promoting the adoption of innovative technologies and practices, including the development of new diagnostic strategies and treatments tailored to individual patient needs, ultimately improving patient outcomes and reducing health inequalities across Europe.

By promoting collaboration between regions with different levels of innovation and development, PRECISEU aims to create a more cohesive and integrated European healthcare ecosystem. This collaboration is expected to stimulate economic growth, improve the competitiveness of European healthcare industries and position Europe as a leader in personalised medicine.

The project will also play a crucial role in supporting policy making and decision-making processes by developing guidelines and models for the adoption of personalised medicine. This includes reimbursement models and strategies for integrating personalised medicine into national healthcare systems.

PRECISEU’s focus on training and building capacity ensures that the benefits of the project will be sustained beyond its five-year duration. By equipping healthcare professionals and decision-makers with the necessary skills and knowledge, the project aims to create a lasting impact on the European healthcare landscape.

PRECISEU therefore represents an ambitious step towards the transformation of healthcare in Europe through personalised medicine. By connecting innovation ecosystems, promoting the use of health data and accelerating the development of advanced therapies, the project aims to create a more cohesive and effective healthcare system.

Read more in the articles here and here.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.