IDERHA consortium formed to tackle access, integration and use of digital healthcare data to advance research and care in lung cancer

Written by Joanne Walker
Health data Health policy Health technology assessment News Oncology and hematology
Image of pills and other medical symbols with lungs of a person highlighted

Academic, clinical, medtech, pharmaceutical, IT, patient advocacy organizations and public authorities will work together within the IDERHA consortium to advance digital healthcare data in lung cancer that will ultimately improve clinical decision making and enhance patient access to health innovations.

‘IDERHA will develop an EU-wide health data space to enable connectivity to and access of digital health data, while simultaneously driving policy recommendations for data access and acceptance of real-world data for regulatory and health technology assessment decision making’

The Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) has announced five new research projects addressing cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, one of which is the public–private partnership IDERHA (Integration of heterogenous Data and Evidence towards Regulatory & HTA Acceptance). This project aims to create a scalable platform to link and seamlessly integrate diverse health data along the patient journey with lung cancer to enable healthcare professionals tailor patient care. IDERHA’s objectives also include the development of policy recommendations for accessing and sharing compliant health data, as well as establishing standards for the acceptability of diverse health research findings, such as real-world data (RWD), for regulatory and health technology assessment decision making.

In Europe, lung cancer in the fourth most frequently occurring cancer, accounting for 11.9% of all new cancer diagnoses, and is the leading cause (20.4%) of cancer-related death. Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan identifies four key action areas the European Union needs to address to counter the devastating effects of cancer: prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment and quality of life of cancer patients and survivors. IDERHA’s pilot program will focus these keys areas by linking and analyzing data generated across the spectrum of lung cancer, from early screening to remote monitoring of patients with late-stage disease. Eventually, IDERHA’s platform and policy recommendations will be applicable to other diseases.

Dr Philip Gribbon, Coordinator of IDERHA at Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology (ITMP) said on LinkedIn, “Our ambitions are to improve patient outcomes by better treating and managing disease, enable personalized care, bolster research and innovation, based on the development of common standards and practices – reducing current disconnected information silos. This enables more personalized health care along the patient’s journey via data-driven tools and solutions.”

The IDERHA team, led by Fraunhofer ITMP and Johnson & Johnson MedTech, includes 29 partners and 4 associated partners including academic, clinical, medtech, pharmaceutical, IT, patient advocacy organizations, like Lung Cancer Europe, and public authorities, such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). The work in the IDERHA consortium will be split over eight work packages, and will be governed by a steering committee consisting of representatives from the partner organizations.

Gribbon continued, “I am thrilled that such a talented group of researchers, united under the frame of IDERHA, will develop a platform to revolutionize the use and interpretation of clinical data, from which lung cancer patients will directly benefit.”

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Click here to view the press release