The details presented today by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) show that the Biotechnology Roadmap is pursuing a broad approach that includes medical technology, diagnostics and research in the life sciences. The VDGH supports this perspective.
"As the industry association for diagnostics manufacturers and the life science research industry, the VDGH has contributed a wide range of proposals for implementing the HTAD. Industry and science must go hand in hand in order to establish Germany as a top location for health research," says Dr. Martin Walger, Managing Director of the VDGH.
The VDGH particularly supports the goal of positioning Germany as an international leader in the research and development of gene and cell therapies. The life science research industry provides the necessary technologies and scaling options. At the same time, modern laboratory diagnostics play a central role in patient-centered and precision medical care.
The use of patient-oriented immediate diagnostics ("point-of-care tests"), the expansion of genome sequencing capacities, the use of platform technologies and faster diagnosis through automation, "multi-omics technologies" and AI-supported evaluations are further elements of the Biotechnology Roadmap listed by the BMFTR. The federal government's explicit goal is also to promote innovative medical technology for the increasingly predictive and preventive medicine of tomorrow.
The VDGH welcomes the fact that the High-Tech Agenda Germany is being combined with the Federal Government's pharmaceutical and medical technology dialog. "The federal government is setting the right course with the High-Tech Agenda. Reliable funding, practicable regulation and better pathways to care are needed to ensure that this results in locational strength," explains Walger.
The VDGH believes that the rapid implementation of concrete measures for research and innovation-friendly framework conditions is essential. This includes, in particular, the practical further development of the European legal framework for in-vitro diagnostics (IVDR) and medical devices (MDR), accelerated access to standard care for diagnostic innovations and the promotion of AI-supported diagnostic applications.
