The power of data: Developing Europe’s next generation of medicines and health technologies

As the EU moves forward with its new pharmaceutical strategy and revising current legislation, it recognises that secure and efficient access to health data is key – both for exploiting the huge potential of new technologies, and for sustaining Europe’s historical excellence in health & life science sectors. In parallel, the Commission has just launched the European Health Data Space (EHDS), which aims to be a game changer in the digitalisation of European health systems, and a vital resource for industry, regulators and other stakeholders in health innovation.

Nonetheless, as the EU rewrites its rule book and standards, important questions remain about how these can anticipate and accommodate the future breakthroughs in medical science, data science and digital technologies which will underpin the next generation of therapeutics and devices. What are the keys to success for harmonising the health data landscape? How to tackle the complex challenge of balancing data quality, security, access and interoperability? In which ways can new methods of evidence generation and assessment – such as analysis of big and real-world data, and AI – be better integrated? And what to do with the vast volumes of medical, genomic and molecular data now available?

On June 27, the Science|Business Future-Proofing Medicines initiative will convene the first in a series of expert dialogues which will explore answers to these issues and more. By gathering best practices and thought leadership at national level, the initiative will look to develop recommendations for “future-proofing” the EU regulatory framework and accelerating the delivery of treatments to patients and citizens.

Against this backdrop, our invitation-only event in Copenhagen will focus on ways in which the exchange of, and access to, health data can be improved, across sectors and borders, to support medicines development and evaluation. In parallel, it will ask what the EU at large can learn from the renowned Danish approach to health data management and use.