'Hej hej' from Stockholm! 3TR Team Comes Together for 4TH Annual Meeting at Karolinska Institutet

The 3TR partners gathered for the 4th Annual Meeting in Sweden's capital from 4 October until 5 October 2023 upon the invitation of no other than the Karolinska Institutet. To be hosted on their beautiful premises during the announcements of the 2023 Nobel Prizes was a particularly special occasion.

Before the official meeting start, the 3TR Joint Steering Committee, the core group of the work package leaders, met on the day prior to align the goals for the annual meeting and prepare for productive and fruitful discussions. The official meeting was then kicked off on 4 October with a warm welcome from Annika Östman Wernerson, President of Karolinska Institutet, who gave an introduction to the local host and the current status of the institute. Following her was Klas Kärre, past chairperson of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, who traced the life of Alfred Nobel and shared insights into the work of the Nobel Committee.

Joining the series of inspiring talks was 3TR scientific officer Klelia Salpea from the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) who highlighted the public-private partnership's current goals, priorities and strengths as well as 3TR Advisory Board Member Jonathan Knowles who played a central role in establishing and launching the initiative in 2008 as the Chairman of the Directors' Group of the EFPIA - European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. Finally, Siobhán O'Sullivan, 3TR Ethics Advisor, argues in her talk to reconceptualise data sharing as a "social contract" based on reciprocal commitment, consensus on what is considered the public good and trustworthy collaboration.

After this great and inspiring opening, the rest of day 1 was dedicated to updates and discussions of the different work packages and disease groups each presenting their progress over the last 12 months. Day 1 closed with dedicated break-out sessions for the individual disease groups to discuss not only operational issues, such as recruitment strategies, but also to address the most pressing questions regarding cross-disease activities. The results of these exchanges within the different disease groups fed, on the second meeting day, into a lively plenary discussion of possible directions for the upcoming cross-disease analyses, which lay at the core of 3TR.

In line with this cross-disease aspect was an inspiring "Q&A" session with some representatives of the 3TR Patient Advisory Group (PAC) also on the second day. In a very open discussion, the personal views, feelings and hopes of the PAC members took centre stage. To this end, the fact that clinical definitions and measurements often still feel detached from the actual quality of life experienced by patients was a recurring aspect of the conversation. The contribution of the PAC members is invaluable, and it brought the common goal of 3TR to the forefront of all meeting participants again: Getting the right drug to the right patient at the right time.

Increased patient engagement and visibility will also be one of the priorities of the project’s communications plan for the upcoming year, as Stephanie Weber, Head of Communications & Marketing at Eurice, pointed out in her update to the group: "The active involvement of patients and patient organisations across the different disease groups is a fundamental building block of 3TR. It's vital that we give them a more prominent platform as we move forward, share their stories and continue to listen to each other." With the Eurice team leading the 3TR management and communication activities, Stephanie was joined in Stockholm by Senior Project Managers Sabine Dier and Silke von Sehlen.

The meeting closed with a General Assembly and a summary of the main action items from this meeting by 3TR Coordinator Marta E. Alarcón-Riquelme (FPS) and Project Lead Terry Means (Sanofi).

Tack, Sven-Erik Dahlén and Ioannis Parodis and their team at Karolinska Institutet for hosting us!

For further information and a full 3TR partner list, please visit 3tr-imi.eu. You can also follow 3TR on X, @3TR_IMI, as well as on LinkedIn.