On October 14th, the Director and CEO for the French National Alliance for Life Sciences and Health, Gilles Bloch, visited Genomic Medicine Sweden, hosted by Karolinska Institutet´s President Ole Petter Ottersen.

During the visit Gilles Bloch, Director of the French Institute for Medical Research (INSERM) and CEO of the French National Alliance for Life Sciences and Health (Aviesan), and Richard Rosenquist Brandell, Director of Genomic Medicine Sweden (GMS), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a French-Swedish partnership in precision medicine.

“We are excited to start this strategic collaboration between France and Sweden in precision medicine. Sharing experiences and knowledge and eventually also data is key to advancing healthcare and care of patients”, says Richard Rosenquist Brandell, Director, Genomic Medicine Sweden.

In this strategic partnership, the France Genomic Medicine Initiative and GMS will share experience of implementation of genomics and precision medicine approaches in healthcare and mutually demonstrate the clinical utility of genomic medicine for rare diseases, cancer and common diseases. This partnership will promote faster and more successful advances by combining the experiences and strength of both nations and their respective research and healthcare infrastructure.

The purpose of the visit of Gilles Bloch and the delegation from Inserm is to extend and deepen the collaboration between France and Sweden in health research, where they also visited Karolinska Institutet and SciLifeLab. France and Sweden signed a declaration on cooperation in 2019 that includes collaboration in personalized and digital medicine.

About Aviesan

The French National Alliance for Life Sciences and Health (Aviesan) is the umbrella organisation in France which leads and delivers the 2025 France Genomic Medicine Initiative, a national initiative which aims to position France as a leading country in the area of personalized and precision medicine, to prepare for the integration of genomic medicine into the healthcare pathway and to establish a national genomic medicine framework capable of driving scientific and technological innovation.

Foto: Ulf Sirborn