Entries by Michael Kuhrt

A Bioeconomy PPP the next generation in collaboration

As Horizon 2020 takes shape, I was keen to read about the new public private initiative that will target the bioeconomy. Public private partnerships mark a significant change in how collaborative research is undertaken in Europe, and they are a logical progression from the requirement to work across national borders.

Peter Liese: Learning to regulate powerful new diagnostics

In September of last year, the European Commission presented a proposal concerning a revision of the in vitro diagnostics medical devices (IVD) Directive. The European Parliament and Council will negotiate the concrete wording of the regulation in the coming months, which means it will probably enter into force within the next three to five years.

Another step towards increasing patient access to orphan drugs?

As part of the outcomes of the European Commission’s Process on Corporate Responsibility in the Field of Pharmaceuticals from 17 April 2013, Member States formally endorsed recommendations on a potential coordinated and collaborative approach to address access to orphan medicinal products: the Mechanism of Coordinated Access to Orphan Medicinal Products (MOCA).

Genetic testing: should consumers have the right to decide?

Europe’s consumers have an often turbulent relatioship with science. Advice from scientists that clashes with lifestyle preferences finds governments reluctant to appear as over–zealous legislators, especially if it makes them unpopular with either groups of voters or the large companies that are often associated with the particular bit of lifestyle under threat.

Dirk Carrez: The BRIDGE to a biobased economy in the EU

In a post-petroleum society, biorefineries – along with the farmers and foresters who source raw materials – are at the heart of the economy. No matter how you define it, the concept remains the same: converting raw materials into useful products for society. Instead of fossil fuels, the biobased economy employs renewable resources and wastes to produce a series of products useful to society: biofuels, bioenergy, biochemicals, bioplastics and other biomaterials.

BIO: the synthesis of brilliance

Brussels Greetings readers! The observant of you will note that I have strayed far from Brussels in my quest for knowledge I was lucky enough to attend the BIO convention in Chicago in late April, and where better to listen out for sage advice? So what did I hear?

The Innovation Scoreboard – plotting a pathway to the future

March saw the publication of the latest innovation scoreboard. ‘More stats!’ I hear you groan, but this is important reading for researchers, businesses and governments in biotech. It tells you where the innovation leaders and followers are, as well as informing you about changes in performance over time.

Hagen Pfundner: Personalised healthcare has to reach the patient

The use of diagnostic testing is at the centre of Personalised Healthcare (PHC), not only for classifying a disease but also for determining which therapy will be most suitable for an individual patient or a stratified group of patients suffering from that disease. It is all about improving outcomes and tolerability.