On 30 May 2015 EFCCA organized the Symposium on Patient Safety, which took place in Brussels and gathered for the first time representatives from the medical and patient community
as well as representatives from the pharmaceutical industries and other stakeholders in order to discuss the issue of biological medicines and biosimilars.
The Symposium aimed to provide clear and accurate information on the current state of art as concerns biological medicines and the new biosimilars that have recently entered European markets. Professor Maurizio Vecchi, Associate Professor of Gastroenterology from the University of Milan, and Director of Gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Unit at IRCCS Policlinico San Donato
Milan and Professor Matthieu Allez, Head of Service at the Department of Gastroenterology, Saint-Louis Hospital, Paris gave detailed presentations highlighting the latest scientific development of biological medicines and biosimilars. Other invited speakers such as Pr. Jean Michel Dogné and Pr. Richard Vesely from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave the regulators point of view and talked about safety issues around biosimilars.
Ms Hilda Juhasz, policy officer representing the European Commission, DG GROW, talked about the Commission ́s work around the issue of biosimilars, and presented the publication “What you Need to Know about Biosimilar Medicinal Products”. This publication was prepared in order to provide the different target groups with adequate information on biosimilar medicinal products.
Finally, Sanna Lönnfors, EFCCA medical writer, together with Professor Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet - from the Department of Hepato-Gastroenterology CHU in Nancy, France presented the first preliminary results of the BAB survey which EFCCA launched last year. BAB which stands for Biologics and Biosimilars aims to assess patients knowledge about biosimilars and to find out to what extent patients are aware of the issues involved around biosimilar medicines.
The meeting was moderated by Professor Julian Panes, the ECCO Elected President. The Symposium is the first public event this year
of a wider work programme around patient safety and information sharing. EFCCA is planning further events and targeted training sessions addressed to its members in order to enhance knowledge and skills for people with IBD.
For more info contact the EFCCA office.