Diabetes patient meeting in Brussels

On 20 May 2014 people with diabetes talked directly to leaders frommedicine, academia and industryabout how the condition affects their daily lives. The IMI-JDRF Diabetes Patient Focus Meeting was held to identify research and development gaps in the diabetes area from the perspective of patient needs and challenges.

The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) is the world’s largest public-private partnership in health – a joint undertaking between the European Union and the pharmaceutical industry association EFPIA. JDRF is the leading global charity funding Type 1 diabetes research, currently sponsoring research in 17 countries. Karen Addington, Chief Executive of JDRF UK, commented on the event saying, “Research progress in Type 1 diabetes has never been faster than it is today. There are now tangible opportunities for research to transform the lives of people affected by the condition. But it is crucial that those people are placed at the heart of the research dialogue. Only by doing this can we achieve our goal of progressively removing the impact of the condition from people’s lives, until we achieve a world without Type 1 diabetes.”

IMI’s Executive Director Michel Goldman added, “This meeting will cover the whole spectrum of diabetes and go beyond the typical Type 1 and 2 classifications, to explore the commonalities between the different metabolic disorders, their causes and current therapies. The patients’ perspective is an invaluable asset in scientists’ and industry’s quest for a cure for diabetes which is at the core of IMI’s mission.”

The IMI-JDRF initiative aims to identify research & development (R&D) gaps in the diabetes area from the patient’s perspective. Discussing unmet patients’ needs will help guide decisions on future research topics on diabetes in IMI and in JDRF’s activities. IMI has already established a diabetes platform including three European diabetes projects: IMIDIA, DIRECT and SUMMIT – working together on the joint development of novel solutions for improved disease management.

IMI and JDRF will publish a joint report on the event’s conclusions later in 2014.

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