Enabling Personalized Medicine in Europe: A Look At the European Commission’s Funding Activities in the Field of Personalized Medicine Research

Abstract

The potential benefits that personalized medicine approaches can bring to healthcare are discussed with much interest throughout the EU. This novel approach is based on a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of health and disease and it has now begun to show results. There is, however, a long way to go before the area is fully exploited. This special report reviews the European Commission’s funding activities related to personalized medicine research. Although the specific focus on personalized medicine is relatively new, the European Commission has already committed significant funding to research in enabling technologies relevant to the field, as well as to specific disease areas for their application. A stocktaking exercise which started in 2010 has helped identify immediate and future challenges in personalized medicine research. The outcome of this exercise, summarized below, will contribute to developing a vision for future research funding at the EU level.

KEYWORDS::

• biomarkers
• diagnostics
• education and training
• enabling technologies
• EU
• Horizon 2020
• personalized medicine
• pharmacogenomics
• rare diseases
• Seventh Framework Programme

Disclaimer

This article was written by R Draghia-Akli, Director of the Health Directorate, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission © European Union, 2012. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

R Draghia-Akli is the Director of the Health Directorate, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, Europeam Commission. The author is the inventor of many patents and patent applications, which are linked to DNA technologies. The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.