There are many myths out there. Today, on World Cancer Day 2013, you can get the facts. One and a half million premature deaths per year, among them from hematological malignancies, could be prevented.

The emerging field of personalised medicine is offering innovative ways of tackling Europe's health issues. But Europe's healthcare system is not yet fully adapted to take advantage of the possibilities.How can patients get access to the benefits that are on the brink of becoming available through personalised medicine?

This is the theme of a conference organised by EAPM under the Irish Presidency of the EU, in Dublin on March 20-21.

We welcome the proposal for a Clinical Trials Regulation released by the European Commission. The Regulation appears to improve the legislation associated with running clinical trials. This will give clinicians and researchers a better framework for developing and testing treatments, to benefit patients across Europe, while maintaining the high standards of patient safety that currently exist in European clinical research. The harmonisation of clinical trials legislation and the streamlining of the application process for starting trials should particularly benefit the set up and running of multi-national trials in Europe.

H-Net, the 3-year European Network for Harmonization of Training in Hematology project led by Professor Eva Hellström-Lindberg, ended in September 2011, but its strongest components continue.

  http://www. no-cuts-on-research. eu EHA supports European Nobel and Fields Medal prizewinners to prevent the EU research funding for 2014-2020 from being subject to budget cuts.

The Leukemia Patient Advocates Foundation, the legal host of the CML Advocates Network, proudly announced the launch of phase 2 of its International CML Adherence Survey. The survey was launched in 12 countries on International CML Awareness Day (22 Sept 2012). As it is organized by the non-profit patient community, this research work urgently needs your support now: If you are a CML patient treated with TKI, please participate. If you are a doctor treating CML patients: Please encourage your patients to participate!

BRUSSELS, September 18 2012:

Today, Nessa Childers, MEP hosted the launch of the Manifesto of the European Alliance for Personalised Medicine in the European Parliament. 

The Manifesto sets out both the opportunities and challenges of ‘a targeted approach to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease based on an individual’s specific profile’ - what is known as personalised medicine.

Currently available treatments for disease have revolutionised health in Europe and beyond, but science has now brought healthcare to the brink of another major evolution.

By a combination of molecular medicine and computer technology, it is becoming possible for screening of patients, early treatment, or prevention to be calibrated precisely, to deliver with maximum effectiveness. With personalised medicine, healthcare services will ensure the right intervention to the right patient at the right time - improving patient outcomes, reducing the likelihood of adverse events, and cutting down unnecessary treatments.

THE HAGUE – July 18, 2012 – Replacing the current Clinical Trials Directive, the European Commission (EC) adopted a proposal yesterday to regulate medical research in Europe.
It appears that the Commission has taken to heart many of the criticisms voiced by EHA and other stakeholders and is now proposing to reduce red tape through the introduction of a regulation, rather than a directive. This should simplify the application for market authorization of medicines and ensure procedural coherence of the assessment.

AMSTERDAM – June 16, 2012 –The European Hematology Association (EHA), the American Society of Hematology (ASH), and the European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC) joined today in issuing a common call to action in an effort to mitigate shortages of hematologic drugs in Europe, the United States and around the world. The collective made the announcement today following the EHA-ASH Joint Symposium at the 17th EHA Congress in Amsterdam which was dedicated to the drug shortage crisis.

In their Reflection paper on risk based management in clinical trials the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is aiming to describe the concept of risk based quality management in the setting of clinical research.

EHA and the European Cancer Patient Coalition co-hosted a meeting at the European Parliament in Brussels on August 30-31, 2011.

On November 30, 2011, the European Commission presented its proposal for Horizon 2020, the financial instrument for research and innovation funding  from 2014-2020. The €80 billion Horizon 2020 will replace the current (€51 billion) Framework Programme 7 (FP7).

The current revision of two European Directives that are crucial to successful research into blood-related diseases must ensure the safety of patients and enhance their access to vitally-important treatment.

Research into blood-related diseases saves and improves the lives of millions of EU citizens each year, but lack of awareness of this fact means that too often, funding does not feed directly enough into advancing the treatment of patients.

On the 30th and 31st of August a conference will be hosted in the European Parliament that will demonstrate the leading role hematology will have in securing the future knowledge economy envisaged in the Europe 2020 Strategy.