Uncomplicated access to information and key players
The www.info-rm.de website and the information hotline for the REGiNA project supported by the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) were launched last week during BioStar 2010, the 4th Congress on Regenerative Biology and Medicine. The information system for both doctors and patients is part of the Users’ Centre for Regenerative Medicine, which is currently being set up with the participation of the University Hospital Tübingen, the Medical Faculty of the University of Tübingen and around 30 partners from the Neckar-Alb and Stuttgart regions.
The REGiNA project was one of two winning concepts honoured by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in the “Health Regions of the Future” competition in May 2009. It will introduce new products and procedures from regenerative medicine to healthcare provision. Dr. Klaus Eichenberg, Managing Director of BioRegio STERN Man-agement GmbH, said on the occasion of the launch of the website and information hot-line: “Doctors and patients can now experience the effects of REGiNA directly; all inter-ested parties can access information and contact key players quickly and easily.”
The information hotline provides patients with information about the possible ap-plications of regenerative medicine in an objective and comprehensible manner. Doctors receive specialised initial information and are able to network with clinical partners. The hotline is staffed by trained personnel with a relevant professional or scientific background in the field of regenerative medicine. The team includes scientists, doctors and members of other healthcare professions. However, they do not advise on individual cases or support self-diagnosis or self-treatment.
The project partners, of which there are roughly 30, took part in the official launch of the website and information hotline last week. Prof. Bamberg, Managing Medical Director and Chairman of the Executive Board of Directors of the University Hospital Tübingen, is utterly convinced of the need for such projects: “In the next ten to 15 years, regenerative medicine will play a central role in the growth market of healthcare, also in view of increased life expectancy. We would like to play a substantive role in this field from the very outset and offer the possibilities of tissue replacement and tissue repair from as early a stage as possible. The University Hospital, with its many specialist disciplines, provides a fantastic platform for the application of innovative tissue replacement technologies in extremely diverse areas.”
Prof. Autenrieth, Dean of the Medical Faculty at the University of Tübingen, em-phasised the magnitude of the project for all involved: “Regenerative medicine is one of the key areas of research at the University of Tübingen. We will make enormous efforts to strengthen this area of research even further because we believe it is an important field of medicine for the future, even if regenerative medicine is currently still in its infancy.”
Companies from the healthcare industry in the region will have a major part to play. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research funds REGiNA to the tune of around €7.5 million, with the project partners investing the same amount again. The doctor and patient information system and research projects on four particularly pertinent indication areas (musculoskeletal system, skin and wound treatment, cardiovascular and respiratory system, and urogenital system) are being launched in several individual projects. In addition, initiatives are being carried out and emphasis placed on the areas of health economics, training and licensing procedures.