Channel European aid and take advantage of public-private collaboration to maintain the “extraordinary research ecosystem in Spain”. Politicians and leaders in world oncology have insisted on the need to join forces so that Spanish health and research continue to be an international benchmark in a conference organized by the Astrazeneca company dedicated to the Catalan oncologist Josep Baselga, a world leader in the specialty since the years 90 thanks to his advances in molecular therapies, and died in March 2021, a victim of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
During the meeting ‘AstraZeneca’s commitment to promote scientific talent. Making Dr. Baselga’s legacy a reality, the First Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs, Nadia Calviño, defended the “extraordinary ecosystem” of research in Spain, which she described as a benchmark and which “has been achieved thanks to the investment public and private”.
The minister also assured at the meeting that the Government has made “a very important commitment” to research into the distribution of Next Generation EU funds.
“It is a very clear commitment”, and he added that it is a commitment to research, science, innovation and development, and to the health system, which he has described as the jewel in the crown of the welfare state, reports Ep.
The event was also attended by important personalities from the political world such as the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, the Minister of Economy, Jaume Giró; the first deputy mayor of Barcelona City Council, Jaume Collboni, and the leader of the opposition and leader of the PSC, Salvador Illa. From the medical field, the director of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), Josep Tabernero, a personal friend of Baselga, took part; Dr. Enriqueta Felip, president of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM) and medical oncologist of the VHIO; Silvia Garriga, widow of Josep Baselga; Ramón Reyes, president of the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) and Ricky Rubio, NBA basketball player and president of The Ricky Rubio Foundation.
The event was also attended by the global CEO of AstraZeneca, Pascal Soriot; the Executive Vice President of R&D in Oncology at AstraZeneca, Susan Galbraith, and the President of the company in Spain, Rick R. Suárez. The latter has highlighted the great “biomedical ecosystem” of Spain and has recalled the great commitment of his company in this country. “There are currently 326 clinical trials underway in Spanish hospitals, 64 of them started this year,” he said.
The president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, has shown the Government’s “firm and determined commitment” to research and innovation in the field of health and has recalled that AstraZeneca was one of the first pharmaceutical companies to obtain a vaccine against the Covid-19. The VHIO director highlighted Baselga’s ability and spirit of transformation, “the first to observe the dynamism of the disease and the ability to use new technologies to improve diagnosis and treatment.”
At this Monday’s event, the creation of a collaboration agreement with the Vall d’Hebron Institut d’Oncology (VHIO) was announced to develop the ‘José Baselga Innovative Disruption Program’ (JBID), aimed at promoting preclinical research and translational in Spain. The company has also recalled its recent commitment to creating a new Global Development Hub in Barcelona, to support the development of innovative medicines to improve the lives of people with rare diseases. Aragonès has defended “investments such as that of AstraZeneca that strengthen and make this city and this country even more attractive” in research, which he has considered a strategic commitment for Catalonia.
At the end of her participation in the conference, the Vice President and Minister Calviño held a meeting of about 15 minutes with the Minister of Economy and Finance of the Generalitat, Jaume Giró, in Barcelona. Knowledgeable sources have explained to Ep that this meeting is part of the “usual contacts within institutional normality” and, once Giró left, the first secretary of the PSC entered the same room at the Museu Marítim where Calviño was still. , Salvador Ilha.
