A lighthouse project is being extended: Health Minister Klaus Holetschek stopped by BioM in Martinsried on Friday.
With him he had the notification that DigiMed Bayern would be funded for a sixth year and a check for 1.7 million euros.
Martinsried
– At a good 35 percent, circulatory diseases make up the largest proportion of all causes of death in Bavaria, ahead of cancer, mental illness or diseases of the respiratory system.
The main reason for this is atherosclerosis.
Using the example of this widespread disease, DigiMed Bayern wants to show what data-based personalized medicine can do and ultimately prevent heart attacks and strokes.
DigiMed Bayern was conceived seven years ago by BioM Biotech Cluster Development GmbH, which is based in the Martinsrieder Innovations- und Gründerzentrum (IZB).
Since the end of 2018, BioM has had Dr.
Jens Wiehler for the executive management and Professor Heribert Schunkert from the German Heart Center Munich for the scientific.
"We want to integrate modern data into patient care," said Schunkert, who spoke of a "handshake in the digital world" and emphasized that "the ethical and legal issue was an important part".
Predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory
DigiMed Bayern is a so-called P4 medical project: predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory.
Disease risks should be easier to predict using digital applications, preventive measures should be taken, tailored to the individual, who in turn should be included in the treatment.
In a quick run-through, Schunkert and his colleagues from the German Heart Center presented the results so far, such as the HerzFit app, a digital companion for heart health.
Dr.
Fabian Starnecker, using the example of the app that went live in April and has since been downloaded more than 50,000 times: “All data stays locally on the smartphone.
We have no insight.”
Vroni study
Another sub-project is the Vroni study, which deals with familial hypercholesterolemia, a hereditary lipid metabolism disorder.
It is an early detection program that is unique in Germany and offers screening for five to 14-year-olds.
"Starting with the child, we want to identify as many other sick family members as possible," says Dr.
Veronica Sanin.
The first samples were accepted at the beginning of 2021, and over 480 pediatricians are now supporting Vroni.
According to Schunkert, one is in discussion with Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach.
"The question is whether we can use the Vroni study as a pilot project to launch a similar project across Germany."
"DigiMed is also a lighthouse project from the point of view of computer science," said Professor Dieter Kranzlmüller from the Leibniz computer center and emphasized the concept of the Bavarian Cloud for Health.
Holetschek called this cloud for digital health data "a really exciting topic".
Data protection is not the problem, the technology is also available, explained Jens Wiehler from BioM.
"The problem is the funding right." If the funding runs out, the data is gone.
Holetschek took home the following homework: “We need project funds to be consolidated in institutionalization.” He emphasized: “I don't want us to save in the wrong place in Bavaria.
We want to advance the use of data, healthcare research and personalized medicine.
Personalized medicine is medicine of the future.
We have to push that.”
DigiMed Bayern was originally planned for five years.
It will now be funded for a year longer, until the end of 2024.
A total of around 25 million euros will flow into the project.