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Research agenda in medical biotechnology

Advisory report | 25-04-2006

At the request of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS), the Advisory Council on Health Research (RGO) has drawn up recommendations for a complete and broadly supported Research Agenda in Medical Biotechnology.

The starting point for this report are the sixteen diseases listed in the report ‘Priority Medicines’ and the thirteen technologies that the Council considers to be medical biotechnology. These are set out against each other in a matrix. For each point in the matrix, the Council has evaluated whether a technology creates possibilities for the treatment of a disease. Subsequently, the Council:

  • investigated whether and to what extent these possibilities are receiving attention in the public research area in the Netherlands;
  • investigated whether and to what extent these possibilities are being developed in the private area (the medical biotechnology companies);
  • examined how the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport could play a specific role in stimulating public-private collaboration in the field of medical biotechnology;
  • consulted various ‘stakeholders’ (patients, citizens, doctors and insurers) to determine, in a structured, individual and interactive manner, the societal needs for which medical biotechnology could provide a solution.

The results of these various inventories were then integrated. On the basis of the main points in university research, economic activity and the societal needs, seven diseases or disease clusters were identified that deserve attention. Of these, three clusters are given top priority:

  • the cluster obesity / diabetes mellitus / cardiovascular diseases;
  • cancer;
  • diseases of the locomotor apparatus, specifically arthrosis.

Preference is given to the application of medical biotechnology in the direction of prevention and treatment. In the last chapter, which also serves as an executive summary, general recommendations, recommendations for the strengthening of public-private collaboration, and seven specific recommendations per cluster are presented. An implementation trajectory has already been worked out for the specific recommendations.