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EDITORIALS: Rodolfo Saracci, Jørn Olsen, and Albert Hofman Health research policy in the European Union BMJ 2005; 330: 1459-1460 [Full text]

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Assessing the clinical and societal impact of biomedical technologies

Miquel Porta   (3 July 2005)

Assessing the clinical and societal impact of biomedical technologies 3 July 2005
Miquel Porta, European Councillor, IEA; and Chairman, IEA European Epidemiology Federation. Professor of Preventive Medicine & Public Health, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Send response to journal: Re: Assessing the clinical and societal impact of biomedical technologies	Sir, The article by Profs. Saracci, Olsen and Hofman does not exaggerate when it states that ignoring population-oriented research is not only naive but it delays effective actions to improve health or to avert harm to health in European populations. Such ignorance may also be industrially inefficient. It is characteristic of the vast majority of both 'basic' and 'translational' research projects in biomedicine to aim at producing knowledge that is ultimately relevant for human health. However, much of that crucial, essential research often overlooks key components of population approaches to health and disease. In these times of European "crises" the EU needs more than ever to strengthen population based investigations on the genetic, environmental, social, and economic determinants. This can be achieved through the many different financing and coordination mechanisms between countries that are envisaged in the "European research area." We need to implement a much more clear, coherent research strategy for all citizens' health rather than sum studies plugged into projects conceived primarily or solely in biological or biotechnological terms, often with vague "industrial production development" objectives. The European strategy should be centred on generating basic and applied knowledge in forms that can be used to improve the performance of European health systems, globally and in all components, from measures to prevent diseases or treat those that are not yet preventable to key societal determinants of health. Evaluation of many types of health related interventions and technologies is similarly essential; this should include the new genomic and proteomic technologies, whose promise is high but whose actual clinical and societal impact cannot be taken for granted. Competing interests: None declared