5th Nordic RWE and AI conference: How will broad use of RWD and AI change Drug discovery and development and will the use of data improve the competitiveness of EU in R&D and result in value based decision making and healthcare?
Venue: University of Helsinki, Main Building Auditorium, Fabianinkatu 33, 00170 Helsinki, Finland Main Building, Fabianinkatu 33 | Opetustilat
Time: 28.1.2025, 12:00-17:30 and Networking Event 18:00-19:30 and 29.1.2025, 09:00-15:30 (times EET)
Day 1
12.00 Registration, networking and exhibition
12.50 Welcome and practicalities. Mia Bengtström Lecturer, University of Helsinki and Associate professor, Åbo Akademi University
13.00 Using RWE and AI in the development of Personalized Medicine to solve patient’s unmet medical needs and improving the competitiveness of EU. Anders Rething Borglykke, Vice President, Real World Evidence, Novo Nordisk A/S
13.25 EMA/CA vision on the use of RWD and AI. invited TBC
- for assessment and approval with the aim to improve healthcare/treatment outcomes of medicine.
- Darwin EU
Implementation of EHDS – how to improve the competitiveness of the Nordic Region by using the excellent RWD assets
13.50 TEHDAS2 and VALO Value from Nordic health data – VALO – Sitra. Markus Kalliola, Program Director, Coordinator of Joint Action Towards TEHDAS 2 and VALO projects
14.15 European Health Data Space – a stealth revolution. Richard Bergström, Vice President European Affairs, IQVIA
14.40 TBC
15.05 Coffee, exhibition and networking.
Use of RWD and AI towards value based decision making and healthcare
15.35 The global value of Nordic data – selected use cases. Emilie Toresson Grip, Director, Head of RWE and Analytics, Quantify Research
- Overview of the key comparative advantages of the Nordic RWD landscape, compared to other US/EU RWD assets. Illustrated by highlighting examples of pan-Nordic research in collaboration with global pharma stakeholders, including the added value of Nordic data in international, multi-country studies
15.55 Secure Processing Environment (SPE) – Your Gateway from Individual Level RWD to RWE. Erkki Soini. CEO, ESiOR Oy. Chairman on the Board, Kuopio Health
16.15 Nordic data landscape today and tomorrow. Riikka-Leena Leskelä, Research Director and Senior Partner at Nordic Healthcare Group
- Current possibilities to conduct Nordic RWE studies and how future changes in the data landscape will make data utilization easier
16.35 Use of RWD/RWE in medicines development and regulatory decision making. Sini Eskola, PhD Candidate at University of Utrecht and WHO Centre for Pharmaceutical Policy and Regulation; Director, Regulatory Strategy, EFPIA
16.55 Using Federated Data Networks and Common Data Models for Health Technology Assessment. Ravinder Claire, Scientific Adviser – Science Policy and Research Programme, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
17.20 Comparative effectiveness of first line pembrolizumab vs. chemotherapy in advanced non-small cell Lung-cancer after approval and reimbursement: A Norwegian Population-Based Cohort Study. Simon Boge Brant, PhD, NordicRWE
17.40 Thank you for the Day and walking to the City Hall
18.00- 19.30 The Networking Reception hosted by the City of Helsinki at the City Hall
Day 2
Use of RWD and AI towards value based decision making and healthcare contineous
Chairs: Martta Ranta, Head of Medical Research, Abbvie and Juha Laine, Nordic HEOR Manager and RWD Advisor, Roche
9.00 Value based healthcare. Irene Eriksson PhD, EMEA Partnership Lead, J&J
9.25 Building a Foundation for Evidence-Based Healthcare: The Impact of Real-Time Data in clinical decision making, Real-World Evidence Generation and on building Registries. Joakim Söderberg, Head of Business Development, BCB Medical
- Traditionally, RWD has been derived from static extracts of registries, electronic medical records etc. These datasets are typically exported at fixed timepoints, with analyses conducted on snapshots of historical data. However, when RWD is generated from continuously updated, dynamic, “living” datasets, it introduces not only unprecedented opportunities but also novel risks and challenges. This transformation enables real-time insights that can improve clinical decision-making, enhance the quality of evidence generation, and redefine how registries are utilized for both research and practice.
9.45 Use of natural language processing and machine learning to extract smoking status from patient texts in Finnish data lakes: lung cancer outcomes related to smoking as case example. Olivia Hölsä, Data Scientist, Medaffcon Oy
- Finnish data lakes provide endless RWE opportunities especially in oncological indications with access to deep clinical data. However, many clinically relevant variables there such as smoking status are widely recorded in free text format, and natural language processing methods are required to include them in RWE studies. We present a machine learning algorithm to identify patients’ smoking status from patient texts and lung cancer outcomes related to smoking as case example.
10:00 Why does the Nordics exceed in RWE – or could we do better?
Real-time hospital-level clinical cost-effectiveness RWD production and reporting at HUS/HUCH. Sami Pakarinen, Chief Medical Officer of Clinical Auditing (deputy) at HUS/HUCH
- Nordic Case: Valo and EU Case: Oncovalue, implementing value-based oncology care at European cancer hospital
EU Case: IHI Prominent, digital platform for precision medicine. Linus Jönsson, Professor, Karolinska Institute
Fireside discussion moderated by Lisse-Lotte Hermansson.
Discussion with Sami Pakarinen and Linus Jönsson:
10.40 Networking break
11.00 Real4Reg – Unlocking Real-World Data with AI. Anna-Maija Tolppanen, Professor, University of Easten Finland
- Real4Reg is a consortium of ten European institutions which aims to promote the use of real-world data (national healthcare registers and claims data from Denmark, Finland, Germany, and Portugal) to support the regulatory decisions about medicines https://www.real4reg.eu/
11.25 The Power of Next-Gen Anonymization: Secure, Compliant, and Accessible Data. Tuomo Pentikäinen, CEO, VEIL.AI
- AI-enhanced next-generation anonymization technology is transforming the data landscape. It improves access to real-world data for evidence generation, facilitates secure cross-border sharing of clinical research data, and enables privacy-compliant datasets for AI training.
11.45 HealthHub Finland EDIH – Auria Clinical Informatics – Agile Path for RWD Research. Arho Virkki, Chief Analytics Officer, Wellbeing Services County of South-West Finland (Varha)
12.05 Real World Evidence Reveal Unjustified Antibiotic Use for the treatment of acne. Johanna Vinblad, Manager HEOR, Market Access & Healthcare Consulting, PharmaLex (part of Cencora)
12.30-13.30 Lunch
Use of RWD and AI in Drug discovery and development
13.30 Transforming drug development in the future using Large Scale Data to find novel treatments for under-studied medical needs. William Hennah, Senior Scientist Genomics at Orion Pharma Oy
13.55 The power of combining Norwegian Healthdata and AI: A case example from Novartis and Akershus University Hospital. Novartis
14.30 Transforming Clinical Trial Practices through Real-World Data. Tero Ylisaukko-oja, CEO, founder, MedEngine Oy
- Real-world data (RWD) have great potential to revolutionize clinical development, particularly in rare diseases. By leveraging RWD in natural history studies, researchers can gain valuable insights into disease progression and identify key factors—such as demographic, genetic, and environmental influences—that shape patient outcomes under current standards of care. These insights are crucial for designing clinical trials with optimal duration, meaningful endpoints, and the possibility of incorporating external control arms. Data from the Nordic countries provide a uniquely robust foundation for conducting these transformative studies.
14.50 TBC
15.15 TBC
15.25-15.30 Thank you for participating and funding, Mia Bengtström
We thank our supporters!
