July 2014
Our Patient Academy EUPATI held a major workshop in July that laid the foundations for expert-level training in medicines research and development while Italy's Presidency of the Council of the European Union began.
Building an academy of experts with EUPATI
The European Patient’s Academy on Therapeutic Innovation (EUPATI) hosted a workshop in July in Germany, to discuss a concrete way forward that supports meaningful patient involvement in Research and Development (R&D).
The EUPATI Expert Training Course started in October to provide patient advocates with the opportunity to receive expert-level training in medicines R&D (link).
Applications for the 2015-2016 course will be open on the EUPATI website on 19 January 2015 with the deadline for submitting applications of 31 March 2015.
One of the project’s goals to facilitate its implementation is to support the creation of EUPATI National Platforms in each of the 12 participating countries. The Spanish platform was established in October following two other successful launches earlier this year in the UK and in Ireland.
Innovation On the agenda of the Italian Presidency
As from 1 July, Italy held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union until 31 December. Health-related issues represented a priority of the Italian Presidency
EPF gave a keynote speech at the conference on “Innovation systems and prospects of health” organised by the Italian Presidency in September in Italy. The event put the spotlight on ongoing initiatives to support the development of innovative medicines and making patient’s access to new treatments easier.
From the patients’ perspective, although access to new and improved medicines is crucial in many disease areas, innovation should not be defined purely in pharmaceutical terms. We highlighted that innovation should be based on a patient-centred approach; patient involvement is needed to determine what innovation adds in terms of real value and improvement to people’s lives.
italia2014.eu