Launch event of the Avicenna Alliance in the European Parliament in Brussels

The event saw full attendance with no seat unfilled and representation from key groups such as HOPE, CPME, EFN, CAAT and others. Featuring presentations from major industry and research players and a keynote presentation by Dr. Tina Morrison from the US Food and Drug Administration, the event focused on examples of how computer modelling and simulation can help us overcome the major health challenges we face today.

Our biggest challenge today is the same as it has been for quite some time – complexity. We simply have not been able to deliver on fully personalized medicine because there are too many factors, too many variables and no tools to make sense of them. This is why in silico medicine is representative of the new era of healthcare. By using computer modelling and simulation tools we can begin to understand these variables, these complexities – we can turn big data into personalized medicine.

Achieving this presents a host of regulatory challenges. Dr. Tina Morrison from the FDA outlined how US regulatory authorities are looking at key issues such as how to validate the effectiveness and usefulness of models that are submitted as evidence of the benefits of products.

In the EU, we need to do the same. Our current legal and policy frameworks are already groaning under the weight of new technologies that are constantly calling into question the suitability of our current frameworks. At this event we have taken the first steps to doing so. Our next step in the Avicenna Alliance in 2017 is to bring all the actors together to get to work on developing these policy solutions and to continue our dialogue with the Commission, FDA and Parliament to see how we can put harmonized policies in place to enable the uptake of in silico.

Avicenna members are already engaged in setting the strategy for 2017. If you are a software, pharma, cosmetic or medical devices industry and would like to be a part of shaping in silico medicine, find out more on our Membership page.

If you are a part of a research organization, you may wish to consider membership of the VPH Institute which has 50% board membership of the Alliance. More information can be found here.

Media & Press

Nature News
: The power of big data must be harnessed for medical progress

Le Quotidien du Médecin: Au service des blocs opératoires et de la recherche, les technologies in silico
L’Europe veut doper la simulation numérique en santé

More images from our event


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