Cancer Precision Medicine in Finland – Current and Future Possibilities for Personalized Patient Care

BACKGROUND

Cancer precision medicine is currently raising considerable interest in healthcare. Healthcare is getting closer to more data and evidence -driven therapeutic opportunities.

In Finland, current investments towards advancing the use of genome data, coordinated cancer treatment, improved possibilities for biobank-research and use of digital health data provide immense possibilities in taking cancer care to the next level.

There are several internationally recognized translational efforts ongoing in Finland, providing valuable insights on the possibilities and future directions of cancer precision medicine.

Finland has started to profile as a testbed for precision medicine and it would be crucial to support this development.

AIM

To facilitate precision medicine in cancer care, we need to understand the current ecosystem in Finland and identify the possibilities and bottlenecks associated with it.

At Medaffcon, we are launching a new initiative this fall with the aim of building a better understanding of the changing ecosystem in Finland. This effort will also highlight opportunities of personalized patient care using selected ongoing initiatives as examples.

GENERAL OBJECTIVES

• To map the international competence and specific strengths of the Finnish ecosystem in the development and implementation of personalized patient care.
• To recognize the common interests and individual needs that various stakeholders such as patients, researchers, pharmaceutical industry, healthcare providers and operators of the national infrastructure may have.
• To increase the communication and interplay between different stakeholders.
• To facilitate actions that will strengthen the role of Finland as a testbed for cancer precision medicine at an international level.

ACTION PLAN

• To identify the roles and status of the major national infrastructure initiatives, such as Biobank Finland Joint Operator, Finnish Cancer Center (FICAN), Finnish Genome Centre and Digital Health HUB, and interplay between them.
• To explore the current initiatives in Finland that develop or are already providing tailored cancer treatments based on genomic or other evidence-based information.
• Based on initial exploration, to highlight selected translational CPM initiatives in 3-4 indications (e.g. hematological malignancies, breast, prostate and lung cancer) and describe used strategies, observed success elements and foreseen requirements for the CPM infrastructure.
• To identify concrete or expected benefits at the patient level in these initiatives.
• To describe health economic value of precision medicine through examples.

VALUE FOR

Patients

• Gain information of the ecosystem and ongoing precision medicine activities.
• Learn how individual person can take part into the development of future precision medicine.

Clinicians

• Gain information of the developing infra-structure.
• Get new ideas how to utilize the current and arising opportunities.
• Increase visibility and awareness of CPM-related activities.

Infra

• Increase awareness of the infrastructure services available for the end-users.
• Learn what expectations Pharma and clinicians have for the infrastructure.
• Obtain tools to improve competence.

Hospitals and payers

• Promote activity and visibility for clinical trials and trial centers involved.
• Gain info and new approaches for assessing the health economic impact of CPM.
• Get proposals for optimized risk-sharing models aiming at more sustainable healthcare solutions.

Pharmaceutical industry

• Obtain tools to promote new CPM-related activities in Finland.
• Information of the planned roles and interplay between different operators of the national infrastructure.
• Get up-to-date information from the selected CPM activities.
• Facilitate innovative market access and reimbursement solutions
• Obtain tools for more precise risk-sharing models