Germany has become the latest signatory to the EU Declaration ‘Towards access to at least 1 million sequenced genomes in the EU by 2022.’ Launched in 2018, the declaration is aimed at having at least 1 million sequenced genomes available in the EU by 2022.
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the Nation’s Health
Since its launch, 21 EU countries[1]
and Norway have joined the ‘1+ Million Genomes’ initiative, and they meet on a
regular basis. The signatories focus on three main use cases:
- Cancer
- Rare diseases
- Common and complex diseases.
The goal of this cooperation is to set mechanisms by which genomic databases
containing sequenced genomes across Europe can be accessed and linked for
analytical purposes. This is hoped to result in improved disease
prevention, increased personalised treatments and support of new clinically
impactful research.
As is stated in the European Commission
policy description, wider access to genomic data could lead to the development
of more targeted personalised medicines, therapies and interventions; enable
better diagnostics; boost prevention; optimise resources use and improve the
effectiveness, accessibility, sustainability and resilience of health systems
in the EU.
The Signatory countries have various objectives, including:
- Development of appropriate technical infrastructure all over the EU.
- Addressing ethical and legal implications of genomics.
- Informing the general public and policy makers in Member States and signatory countries on Genomics-related issues.
Many EU member states have genomic sequencing data sets, but those need to
be interlinked and made accessible in a secure way. This will facilitate the
research on innovative solutions for precision medicine and public health.
Stella Kyriakides,
EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, welcomed Germany’s step noting that
it ‘will contribute to advancing research and the development of new
treatments.’
Germany Turns to Digitalising Healthcare
With the current initiative being part of the EU's agenda for the Digital Transformation of Health and Care, it is not the only step towards digitalisation in healthcare that Germany has made recently.
The
country is the world’s second largest healthcare market after the U.S., while
its digitisation levels are one of the lowest
among developed countries.
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Doctors To Prescribe Health Apps in ‘World First’
However, in
November 2019 the parliament passed the so-called Digital Healthcare Act
(DVG), which substantially expands the
application of digital tools in the country’s healthcare system. It covers prescription
of digital health apps to patients, reimbursement for providing online
consultation to patients, promoting e-prescriptions and introducing electronic
health records (EHRs) for certain categories of patients by 2021. The law has
been drawing criticism in relation to its handling of patient data, but German lawmakers
promise to deal with this issue with separate legislation.
Earlier that year the Federal Ministry of Health also launched the Health
Innovation Hub (HIH) “to further explore the
possibilities of digitisation and to develop ideas and concepts for the design
of care and for the digital transformation.”
Source: European Commission
Image credit: European Commission
[1] Austria,
Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands,
Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Six countries are official Observers: Belgium,
France, Denmark, Ireland, Poland and Switzerland.
