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. 2022 Dec 8:9:1064003.
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.1064003. eCollection 2022.

Health horizons: Future trends and technologies from the European Medicines Agency's horizon scanning collaborations

Valentina Vignali  1   2 , Philip A Hines  1   3 , Ana Glória Cruz  1 , Barbara Ziętek  1 , Ralf Herold  1
Affiliations

Health horizons: Future trends and technologies from the European Medicines Agency's horizon scanning collaborations

Valentina Vignali et al. Front Med (Lausanne). .

Abstract

In medicines development, the progress in science and technology is accelerating. Awareness of these developments and their associated challenges and opportunities is essential for medicines regulators and others to translate them into benefits for society. In this context, the European Medicines Agency uses horizon scanning to shine a light on early signals of relevant innovation and technological trends with impact on medicinal products. This article provides the results of systematic horizon scanning exercises conducted by the Agency, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre's (DG JRC). These collaborative exercises aim to inform policy-makers of new trends and increase preparedness in responding to them. A subset of 25 technological trends, divided into three clusters were selected and reviewed from the perspective of medicines regulators. For each of these trends, the expected impact and challenges for their adoption are discussed, along with recommendations for developers, regulators and policy makers.

Keywords: health technology; horizon scanning; innovation; medicines regulation; preparedness; public health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flow diagram of the two methods to identify signals: the WHO “top-down” expert provision of signals, and the DG JRC “bottom-up” bibliometric analysis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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