CaixaForum Macaya hosted today the debate session “UnConference 2023. Advanced therapies. An innovative market capable of improving the quality of life", organized by the organization CataloniaBio & HealthTech and in which more than 120 entrepreneurs and managers from the health sector have participated.
The fifth edition of this annual day of debate and dialogue has focused on advanced therapies and their key role today in the industry and the health system. Advanced therapies (Advanced therapy medicinal products, ATMPs) open a range of innovative therapeutic possibilities to treat previously incurable diseases.
With the increasing of chronic diseases, the research and development of new therapies are essential issues to be able to develop reliable, verified and personalized medicines that represent an alternative to classical treatments. The UnConference 2023 has also addressed the need to implement a common ATMP strategy to guarantee scientific progress and access to therapies in an equal way in the population.
A more stable public-private collaboration and other infrastructures needed to be pioneers in advanced therapies
At the main session of the UnConference 2023 a roundtable, moderated by Joan Puig de Dou, CEO of Kymos and president of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, and formed by Javier García Castro, head; Sol Ruiz, head of the Division of Advanced Therapies, AEMPS (Agencia Española de Medicamentos y Productos Sanitarios); Toni Andreu, scientific director of EATRIS; and Roser Fernández, General Director, La Unió Catalana d’Hospitals, has analyzed from various points of view the infrastructures that are needed to lead the field of advanced therapies.
Some of the structural and knowledge and talent infrastructures that have been mentioned are those related to achieving a more stable public-private collaboration, accompanied by more governance efforts in this regard and more instruments to carry it out to term Territorial coordination has also been discussed to achieve equity and efficiency.
Finally, the importance of the agreement between all the agents of the value chain and the need to involve a change in the care model for both hospitals and primary care centers has been highlighted. At the level of investments, it has been pointed out that the generation of evidence is necessary to reduce the risk of private investment.
Levers of change to ensure the development and manufacturing of advanced therapies
During the second part of the debate day, CataloniaBio & HealthTech has organized three parallel sessions to discuss and work on the levers that must guarantee the equal supply of advanced therapies to the entire population.
What are the latest trends in advanced therapies? What are investors looking for in this field? How can market access for advanced therapies be improved and regulatory pathways improved? These are some of the questions that the experts debated with the collaboration of moderators Christian de Angelis (Planta Doce), Gabriel Trindade (Expansión), Rosa Salvador (La Vanguardia) and Isabel Amat, global head of Innovation and Pipeline Management to Reig Jofre and vice president of CataloniaBio & HealthTech.
Among the conclusions that have been drawn in the field of challenges and innovations, the impact on the need for cooperation by all agents and public-private collaboration as key from the beginning stands out of product development. Along these lines, it is important to focus on reaching the market, but above all on accessing the patient.
From the point of view of investors, the debate has concluded with the idea that it is an incipient market, but on the way to consolidation. In this sense, the participants also pointed out that more industrial production capacity is needed, while celebrating that more and better ideas are arriving, which indicates that the progression of talent is appropriate.
Finally, regarding market access and possible regulatory barriers, participants have indicated that imaginative solutions are being worked on and put in place to address the debate between costs and benefits within the framework of the national health system. In addition, the effects of the new European pharmaceutical regulation, which must bring applicable changes in this area, in relation to the hospital exception clause, have been assessed.
To close the working day, attention was focused on the solution that works at the Catalan level in the field of advanced therapies. It was discussed in a round table with the participants Robert Fabregat, CEO Biocat; Laia Arnal, Director General of Knowledge Society, Transfer and Territory in Research and Universities, GenCat; and Aleix Cubells, Director General of European Funds and State Aid, Gencat, on the advanced therapies hub in Catalonia and how it must become a meeting point to promote synergies in this area. Specifically, it must be a point of support for all agents in the sector and for detecting opportunities.
The event has been organized with the support of Kymos and the collaboration of ACCIÓ.
What Is an UnConference?
UnConference is a day of debates and discussions on the future of healthcare solutions promoted by CataloniaBioHT since 2018. The event aims to raise awareness of, and offer perspectives and insight into the sector’s needs and opportunities, as well as the best way to tackle them.
Following the unconference methodology, this event doesn’t include presentations and conferences, but rather various debate spaces where significant figures from science, business, patients or society are invited to propose topics for joint reflection. Therefore, the debates are based on the opinions and knowledge of the participants (entrepreneurs, CEOs, CSOs and executives at pharmaceutical, biomedical and digital health companies).
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