Working Group on Diagnostics Meets at PerMediCon in Cologne

On 19 June, the experts from BIO Deutschland’s Working Group on Diagnostics met during the Personalised Medicine Convention (PerMediCon) in Cologne to discuss a topic relevant to the conference, namely a new trend in the health sector called companion diagnostics. This field involves the increasing fusion between diagnostics and pharmaceuticals in order to design therapy measures for individual patients as effectively as possible. The group discussed current companion diagnostics issues and focused on the question of reimbursement of the costs of the necessary tests, which are of major importance in treatment with medicinal products. To date, various procedures for reimbursing the costs of medicinal products and diagnostics co-exist. The working group experts agreed that a standardised reimbursement system is required because of the greater dovetailing of therapeutics and diagnostics in personalised medicine. The group plans to make this point clear to political decision makers. In addition, it is planning to hold a joint meeting with the Working Group on Regulatory Matters, which will also deal with this topic.

The group also discussed the motion on curtailing individual health services tabled by the SPD parliamentary group in detail (Bundestag printed paper 17/9061, available in German only). In the opinion of the working group members, the blanket view of individual health services and the additional measures called for in the motion do not reflect reality and will therefore be difficult to implement. The working group will invite an SPD politician to a discussion on this topic at one of its next meetings in order to explore this topic further.

The minutes of the meeting will shortly be available to BIO Deutschland members from the association’s office (Tel.: +49 (0)30-3450593-30, e-mail: info@biodeutschland.org).  

Interdisciplinary discussions formed an integral part of this year’s congress and trade fair, which took place for the third time in Cologne on 19 and 20 June. Around 350 experts attended the event on personalised medicine. The congress programme included panels, forums and project presentations on the opportunities and challenges of personalised medicine and on the current state of research, diagnostics, technology and therapy. The exhibition section featured over 40 companies and also provided visitors with a venue for discussions and networking.

PerMediCon 2012 focused on the questions of how the medical future can be efficiently shaped into a highly disciplined and complex working field and how better use can be made of synergies between different disciplines.

PerMediCon also issued a call for projects for the first time this year. An expert jury, which included a representative of BIO Deutschland, selected 19 projects from the large number of submissions. These projects were presented during the congress programme.

The next PerMediCon will take place on 18 and 19 June 2013.

You will find extracts from the presentations, findings from the workshops, and other information on PerMediCon at www.permedicon.de/en/.