We are happy to announce that our General Assembly and Scientific Meeting held between 13 and 15 of March in Bologna, Italy counted about 250 participants both in person and online that learned about EPTRI’s role in advancing paediatric research. EPTRI mission is to create an open science platform overcoming geographical, institutional, and financial boundaries to advance paediatric research and support the development of high-quality, safe medicines and technologies for children.
The meeting was an occasion for the participants to learn about EPTRI’s Thematic Research Platforms (TRPs) and the Integrated Services they provide. Many presentations aim at sharing and discussing the latest news on the discovery and development of new medicines, devices and therapies for the paediatric population, as well as the development of two new TRPs within EPTRI, dedicated to Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) and In Silico Models and Digital Health.
The afternoon of the 13th was dedicated to the discussion of the challenges and opportunities for paediatric research and innovative projects addressing paediatric unmet therapeutic needs were presented. The morning of the 14th was dedicated to the Integrated Services session where 4 (Paediatric Medicines Discovery, Developmental Pharmacology, Paediatric Biomarkers and Biosamples, Paediatric Medicines Formulations) TRPs were described, as well as the new TRP dedicated to ATMPs was presented. The TRPs presentations were based on a brief introduction of the platform, followed by the description of the various technologies and expertise offered as integrated services and selected presentations on TRP correlated studies.
In the afternoon two sessions were held. One dedicated to the development of medical devices in Europe which counted with presentations from EU representatives and three EU funded projects, DeCODe, i4KIDS-4RARE and OrphaDev4Kids, dedicated to the development of medical devices for paediatric orphan disorders, and a session dedicated to the advancement of clinical studies in the paediatric population. In this session cutting-edge paediatric clinical studies were presented.
The last day started with a session dedicated to Digital Health Technologies and EPTRI’s collaboration with ELIXIR, which was involved in the organization of the session. This session started with two presentations from ELIXIR, followed by case studies on the use of digital twins, the wearable solutions and the use of AI for patient recruitment in clinical studies.
The EPTRI Scientific Meeting ended with the session dedicated to the kick-off meeting of the OrphaDev4Kids Patient Expert Committee (PEC) with the presentation of YPAGs KIDS Bari and KIDS Albania and the review of the survey on Cyanotic Congenital Heart Disease (CCHD) for patients by the PEC.
During the Scientific Meeting, posters from selected abstracts were available during the Meeting breaks for visualization and discussion.
Check the Agenda on our website and the presentations of the Scientific Meeting!