Experts highlight that clinical data analysis and patient engagement are key to personalized medicine

Madrid, 15 July. (European Press) –

Clinical data analysis and patient engagement are key to transforming personalized medicine into an “unstoppable reality,” experts explained in “Day One for Personalized Medicine: Facts, Challenges, and Opportunities,” which Roche is organizing with endorsement from the Digital Health Association.

“Technology combined with artificial intelligence has made medicine progress at a much faster rate. However, data analysis is the most important aspect along with the development of accurate diagnoses and innovative treatments to make personalized medicine an unstoppable reality,” emphasized Roche Farma’s Director of Medical Division, Beatrice Perez.

Along the same lines, Teresa Ramos, who is responsible for personalized medicine at Roche Pharma, added that “while the data is basic, the backbone of the entire medical process is the patient.” He defended this, saying: “The data belongs to the patient, and he freely decides whether to share it, which is why he must be informed and fully aware of the importance of this fact.”

In this sense, all participating experts agreed to underscore the security surrounding the transmission of health data and the enormous benefit that the existence of this information, for example for research purposes, poses to society at large and to the individual himself.

Alfonso Valencia, Director of the Life Sciences Division at the National Supercomputing Center, stated in this regard that “it is essential that there is a positive public perception around data collection and analysis.”

For his part, Ignacio Medrano, neurologist and founder of Savannah and Mendelian, concluded his intervention by emphasizing that “it is necessary not to obstruct the investigation with suspicion, as well as to protect all this medical practice within an ethical regulatory framework that explains what uses it should have and which it does not”, which is the concept Approved by Joaquín Dopazo, Director of the Progreso y Salud Foundation and Researcher in Charge of Computational Medicine for IBIS Systems in Seville.

The importance of access to innovation

Fernando López Rios, Associate Physician of the Pathological Anatomy Service at the 12 de Octubre University Hospital in Madrid and Professor at CEU San Pablo, and Marie Luz Amador, Medical Director of the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), agreed that better organization of the data would It helps patients have equitable access to precision medicine throughout the national territory.

“It is pointless to make an accurate diagnosis, if you cannot access the right medication. It is a fact that patients live longer and better thanks to the use of targeted therapies. Personalized medicine saves time and quality of life, therefore, it must be within the reach of all diseases,” he explained Amador.

In order to achieve this fairness, Jose Soto, managing director of San Carlos University Clinical Hospital and president of the Spanish Association of Health Directors (SEDISA), has called for management agreements with their own budgets for personalized medicine.

He noted that “it is necessary to change the concept and stop talking about spending. We must talk about the cost, which is closely related to the result obtained. Currently, it has already been noted that the application of personalized medicine is cost-effective.”

In addition, in this context, as the representative of the Spanish Breast Cancer Federation, Paula Gonzalez, has argued in the field of personalized medicine “the patient should not be merely a recipient of clinical decisions, but rather should be an active subject in making these decisions about their health” in A model that should translate into “personal, interdisciplinary and more participatory care than ever before”.

“Patients and clinicians have to go hand in hand, and develop lines of research from the start. It is imperative that the patient is involved so that not only the physician’s criteria are prioritized, but the patients’ vital needs as well,” said Virginia Mica, coordinator of neurology in the Multiple Sclerosis Unit at Hospital de la Princesa in Madrid “Medical Operation. The patients”.

In this regard, Eduardo Tisano, Director of the Clinical and Molecular Genetics Area at Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona, ​​stated that “it is necessary to change the view in which only the outcome is evaluated and more attention is paid to the expectations of the patient.”