Innovation hub
Vision Zero Cancer, Genomic Medicine Sweden (GMS) and SciLifeLab joined forces with public sector authorities, regions, healthcare, academia, industry and patient associations to create an innovation hub that facilitates the introduction of more precise prevention and treatment in cancer care.
Purpose
Through strengthened national and international collaboration and the use of existing national research and clinical infrastructures, the Partnership will pave the way for the next generation of medicine by 2030, centred on the individuals’ personal characteristics, and leading to increased effectiveness. The patient perspective is central to the initiative.
The overarching long-term goal of the precision health innovation hub is to lessen the burden of cancer for patients and society. Increased precision of care means more effective resource allocation, ultimately improving sustainability and outcomes in cancer in Sweden and beyond.
The purpose of Testbed Sweden Precision Health Cancer is to prototype a comprehensive ecosystem for the equitable and sustainable implementation of precision medicine in Sweden.
As part of Vinnova’s program "Sustainable Precision Health" 2021- 2026, the Testbed engages stakeholders from the full pentahelix, with project partners from authorities and regions, academia, industry, civil society and Vision Zero Cancer as convenor and catalyst.
Goals
Collaboration and co-creation for innovation
Sweden, with a strong acumen in investing in equitable healthcare, research, and innovation, is in a unique position to maximising this potential of new technologies with scientific and clinical progress. Sweden has the necessary prerequisites: world-class research and research infrastructure, a health care system of high international standard, competitive industry, and world-leading innovation. What we need now is to strengthen our national and international cooperation across disciplines and sectors. This is where Testbed Sweden Precision Health Cancer comes into play!
Project partners from the full pentahelix joining forces
Precision medicine- ‘the right intervention to the right patient at the right time’- offers the promise of improved outcomes by more precise allocation of resources.
While a deceivingly simple concept, optimising outcomes at the level of the individual patient rather than for a group of patients represents a paradigm shift in medicine. It challenges how we think about, generate and evaluate evidence- and requires new methodology to do so.
However, not only the challenge itself is complex. Healthcare systems themselves are complex adaptive systems with many stakeholders who each are responsible for a part of the system but with no one having sole ownership of any problem.
Solutions therefore require everyone to be on board- and to steer together towards a new destination.
For this reason, the Testbed Sweden Precision Health Cancer as project partners representing the full pentahelix: members coming from authorities and regions, academia and healthcare, representatives of the commercial sector, civil society with Vision Zero Cancer as convenor and catalyst.
Testbed Sweden for Precision Health in Cancer: a true pentahelix for the implementation of precision health in Sweden
SIR, Stockholm School of Economics Institute of Research
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Halmstad University
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IHE Institute
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Karolinska Institutet
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Karolinska University Hospital
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Lif – The research-based Pharmaceutical industry
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Region Halland Hospital
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Region Skåne University Hospital
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Region Uppsala University Hospital
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Sahlgrenska University Hospital
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Swedish Lung Cancer Association
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Swedish Medical Products Agency
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Swedish Medtech Service AB
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The Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency (TLV)
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The Network Against Cancer
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Uppsala University
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Örebro University Hospital
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SIR, Stockholm School of Economics Institute of Research | Halmstad University | IHE Institute | Karolinska Institutet | Karolinska University Hospital | Lif – The research-based Pharmaceutical industry | Region Halland Hospital | Region Skåne University Hospital | Region Uppsala University Hospital | Sahlgrenska University Hospital | Swedish Lung Cancer Association | Swedish Medical Products Agency | Swedish Medtech Service AB | The Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency (TLV) | The Network Against Cancer | Uppsala University | Örebro University Hospital |
Partnership
Testbed Sweden Precision Health Cancer is an innovation project within Vinnova's program "Sustainable Precision Health" 2021-2026, coordinated by Stockholm School of Economics Institute for Research, SIR. Vision Zero Cancer and Genomic Medicine Sweden jointly lead the Partnership.
Public Sector: Authorities
Swedish Medical Products Agency, MPA
The Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency, TLV
Public Sector: Regions with university hospital care
Region Skåne, representing GMS and Skåne University Hospital
Region Stockholm
Region Uppsala
Västra Götalandsregionen
Region Örebro
Civil Society
Network Against Cancer, Swedish umbrella organization for patient associations
Swedish Lung Cancer Association
Academia
Karolinska Institutet, representing SciLifeLab and Genomic Medicine Sweden (GMS)
Uppsala University, representing SciLifeLab and GMS
Halmstad University, CAISR, Center for Applied Intelligent Systems Research and Health Data Factory (HDF) Foundation
Stockholm School of Economics, SSE
Stockholm School of Economics Institute for Research, SIR, representing Vision Zero Cancer
The Swedish Institute for Health Economics, IHE
Private Sector
LIF, Swedish Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry
Swedish Medtech, Swedish Association of the Medical Technology Industry
ASCRO, The Association of CROs Active in Sweden
Precision medicine
Precision medicine is rapidly emerging and has the potential to defeat cancer. But the possibilities for this depend on access to high-quality molecular diagnostics and access to precision medicine clinical trials to enable implementation. In equal and sustainable cancer care, each patient and resident is offered accurate and individually tailored prevention, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up based on their unique conditions, such as genetic profile and specific biomarkers.
The challenges for this field are translating research results into clinical practice, facilitating their adoption by healthcare systems, and developing cost calculations and reimbursement models. Implementation of precision health healthcare systems requires a broad societal perspective, including economic sustainability, societal benefits, and equity of access. Citizen and patient literacy will have to be fully incorporated, so that shared decisions can be made.
Significant investments are still needed for infrastructure in clinical settings, particularly regarding biomarker technologies, health data accessibility and interpretation by healthcare professionals. Training and life-long education of health professionals must also be part of the strategy. To allow for successful implementation, key players along the whole value chain need to be involved.
These include citizens and patients, researchers, clinicians, healthcare providers, policy makers, regulators, health economists, experts on ethical, legal, and societal implications (ELSI), data/information and communication technology (ICT) experts and industry stakeholders. Within Testbed Sweden Precision Health Cancer we use implementation research as a driving force to achieve a faster introduction of a more equal and sustainable cancer care.
WHAT IS A TESTBED?
The testbed is an important part of the ecosystem for innovation - for effective development and market introduction of new products, processes and services. In the concept of testbed, everything from equipment and pilot machines to policy labs, virtual and exploratory environments with associated expertise for continuous development is collected. This is where expertise, industries, problem owners and users meet to jointly develop the innovations of the future!