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2021 at a glance
May
European Commission webinar on the acceptance of the European Health Data Space (EHDS)
On 10 September, PGEU attended a webinar organised by the European Commission which aimed at presenting the outcome of five stakeholder working groups (WG) which were set to design solutions on acceptance of the EHDS for end-users and identify concrete topics as input for the European Health Data Space. The WG leaders reported the outcome of each of the 5 WG dealing with the following topics: (1) interoperability, (2) cross-border re-use of health data for research and policy-making, (3) cross-border uptake of digital health services and products; (4) cross-border uptake of AI for health care; (5) and sharing of health data between public and private partners.
High-Level Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AI)
On 14 and 15 September, PGEU attended the “High-Level Conference on AI: From Ambition to Action’’, jointly organized by the European Commission and by the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council. This event was organized as the first open discussion following the Proposal for a Regulation laying down harmonised rules on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the updated Coordinated Plan on AI, published by the European Commission in April 2021. The Conference unfolded around a number of panels, discussing, among other topics, the role of law and regulation to foster uptake of trustworthy AI, the importance of human-centric AI approach, as well as aspects such as governance, standardization and liability for the use of AI. The Conference also included two high-level political panels on the content of the EC Proposal on AI Regulation (also known as AI act) and a keynote speech by the Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, who outlined how in his view the AI act will foster AI development in Europe especially among small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as it enhances trust and legal certainty which can boost investments in the field and since it allows for regulatory sandboxes to promote innovation among SMEs.
EMA Healthcare Professionals’ Working Party
On 21 and 22 September, PGEU participated in the European Medicines’ Agency (EMA) Joint Patients’ and Consumers’ (PCWP) & Healthcare Professionals’ (HCPWP) Working Party. On pharmacovigilance, PGEU was invited to deliver a presentation on the community pharmacists’ reflections on publication and dissemination of Direct Healthcare Professional Communications (DHPCs), which were based on the results of the PGEU Survey on Pharmacovigilance and Risk Minimisation. During the meeting also an update on COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and safety surveillance was provided, highlighting the very high amount of suspected adverse drug reaction reports received from healthcare professionals and patients. There was also an update on the work of the Big Data Steering Group announcing the launch a pilot project that aims to determine the regulatory benefit of access to raw data.
PGEU Annual Report 2021
Community pharmacists exemplar role as primary care providers in the COVID-19 pandemic
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