Abstract:
Alzheimer\'s disease (AD), breast cancer (BC) and prostate cancer (PC) continue to be high in the research and innovation agenda of the European Commission (EC). This is due to their exceptionally large burden to the national health systems, the profound economic effects of opportunity costs attributable to decreased working ability, premature mortality and the ever-increasing demand for both hospital and home-based medical care. Over the last two decades, the EC has been steadily increasing both the number of proposals being funded and the amounts of financial resources being allocated to these fields of research. This trend has continued throughout four consecutive science funding cycles, namely framework programme (FP)5, FP6, FP7 and Horizon 2020 (H2020). We performed a retrospective assessment of the outputs and outcomes of EC funding in AD, BC and PC research over the 1999-2019 period by means of selected indicators. These indicators were assessed for their ability to screen the past, present and future for an array of causal relationships and long-term trends in clinical, epidemiological and public health sphere, while considering also the broader socioeconomic impact of funded research on the society at large. This analysis shows that public-private partnerships with large industry and university-based consortia have led to some of the most impactful proposals being funded over the analysed time period. New pharmaceuticals, small molecules and monoclonal antibodies alike, along with screening and prevention, have been the most prominent sources of innovation in BC and PC, extending patients\' survival and enhancing their quality of life. Unlike oncology, dementia drug development has been way less successful, with only minor improvements related to the quality of supportive medical care for symptoms and more sensitive diagnostics, without any ground-breaking disease-modifying treatment(s). Significant progresses in imaging diagnostics and nanotechnology have been largely driven by the participation of medical device industry multinational companies. Clinical trials funded by the EC were conducted, leading to the development of brand-new drug molecules featuring novel mechanisms of action. Some prominent cases of breakthrough discoveries serve as evidence for the European capability to generate cutting-edge technological innovation in biomedicine. Less productive areas of research may be reconsidered as priorities when shaping the new agenda for forthcoming science funding programmes.
摘要:
阿尔茨海默病(AD),乳腺癌(BC)和前列腺癌(PC)在欧盟委员会(EC)的研究和创新议程中仍然很重要。这是由于它们给国家卫生系统带来了非常大的负担,工作能力下降导致的机会成本的深刻经济影响,过早死亡以及对医院和家庭医疗的需求不断增加。在过去的二十年里,欧共体一直在稳步增加资助的提案数量和分配给这些研究领域的财政资源。这种趋势在连续四个科学资助周期中一直持续。即框架计划(FP)5、FP6、FP7和地平线2020(H2020)。我们对AD中EC资助的产出和结果进行了回顾性评估,BC和PC通过选定的指标对1999-2019年期间的研究。评估了这些指标筛选过去的能力,临床中一系列因果关系和长期趋势的现在和未来,流行病学和公共卫生领域,同时也考虑到资助研究对整个社会的更广泛的社会经济影响。此分析表明,与大型行业和大学财团的公私合作伙伴关系已导致在分析的时间段内资助了一些最有影响力的提案。新药,小分子和单克隆抗体一样,除了筛查和预防,一直是BC和PC最突出的创新来源,延长患者的生存时间,提高他们的生活质量。不像肿瘤学,痴呆症药物的开发不太成功,与症状和更敏感诊断的支持性医疗质量有关的改善很小,没有任何突破性的疾病修饰治疗。成像诊断和纳米技术的重大进展在很大程度上是由医疗器械行业跨国公司的参与推动的。进行了由EC资助的临床试验,导致开发具有新作用机制的全新药物分子。一些突破性发现的突出案例证明了欧洲有能力在生物医学领域产生尖端技术创新。在制定即将到来的科学资助计划的新议程时,可以将生产率较低的研究领域重新考虑为优先事项。