The strategic agreement signed by the leaders of the University of Debrecen and AstraZeneca on Wednesday aims at a joint support of innovations in health care, the improvement of patient pathway management and the increase of the efficiency of patient care. This extended partnership covers areas of medicine such as oncology, respiratory and immunological diseases, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases as well as rare diseases.
- The mission of the University of Debrecen is to build and rely on a unity of education, research and healing in order to make the most recent scientific results benefit the patients. This is exactly what makes us a leading institution in the field of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, representing the only pharmaceutical cluster in the country. The current strategic partnership with AstraZeneca will enable the implementation of focused projects that directly support everyday patient care, in which the knowledge base of the university together with international industrial experience reinforce each other in order to create value and beneficial outcomes. In turn, the results that have been achieved in joint research during the recent years guarantee that this collaboration will also be successful- said Zoltán Szilvássy, Rector of the University of Debrecen, at the signing ceremony of the agreement.
During the course of this collaboration, a key part will be played by programs aiming to develop data research and analysis. By relying on domestic health data resources, these programs may then contribute to making patient care more transparent, sustainable, and cost effective, thereby alleviating the ever-increasing pressure on the healthcare system.
- We do believe that it is only the comprehensive and long-term cooperation projects based on the most recent scientific advances that can provide a sustainable response to the complex health-related challenges posed by chronic diseases. One of the important elements of this agreement is the effort to further strengthen clinical research programs and to implementat data-driven projects based on real patient pathways that contribute to earlier detection, more personalized therapeutic decisions and more efficient care organization- said Julio Ordaz, Director of AstraZeneca’s Central European Cluster.
Chronic diseases and aging societies together pose an ever increasing challenge to the healthcare systems of developed countries, including that of Hungary. The proper response and solution to this contemporary challenge, which has by now become a social issue, may be an even broader cooperation and the exploitation of the hitherto untapped potentials of technology and science. The shared objective of the University of Debrecen and AstraZeneca is to continue to support Hungarian healthcare through research findings that can be applied in everyday clinical practice. Irrespective of whether these findings reduce the time required to make a diagnosis or support making more accurate therapeutic decisions, they equally contribute to improving the quality of life of the patients and to making healthcare more sustainable in the long run.
- The most impressive structural change in the history of our Clinical Center was the integration process that was successfully completed in 2023. This process resulted in a new clinical system with more than 3,000 beds, where almost 5 million doctor-patient interactions take place each year. The integration itself has provided us with a tremendous opportunity to use our existing knowledge and even go beyond it with the aim of further developing it in order to serve the recovery of our patients at an even higher level. The chief objective of the Clinical Center continues to be the provision of even higher quality and safer patient care than before. We have already had a very fruitful professional relationship with AstraZeneca in the field of medicine, with numerous clinical trials and professional collaborations behind us, which provide a rock-solid foundation for us to move forward from. This new collaboration will contribute significantly to achieving meaningful progress in the diagnosis and treatment of endemic diseases in the fields of cardiology, oncology, pulmonology and internal medicine- said Zoltán Szabó, President of the Clinical Center at the University of Debrecen.
Within the framework of the new strategic partnership, the parties will implement three individual projects with direct practical benefits. The introduction of artificial intelligence-supported pathological diagnostics into daily routine can significantly contribute to decision-making about therapies. This innovation is going to be used primarily in cases of breast, lung, and prostate cancer. At the same time, a health economic analysis has already been launched to compare the guideline-based patient pathway for severe asthma with current domestic practice, providing targeted information to support clinical decision-making and financial planning. As regards the struggle against cardiovascular disease, it is going to be supported by data-based research on patients suffering from dyslipidemia, i.e., lipid metabolism disorders. The study could hopefully provide a comprehensive overview of the care practices, treatment patterns, therapy effectiveness and critical points in the patient pathway for patients suffering from dyslipidemia.
- We are working on solutions that can transfer innovation into clinical practice in a much faster fashion. Over the past five years, we have managed to bring as many as 58 clinical trials to Hungary, 41 of which involved the active participation of the University of Debrecen. Our future goal is that the University of Debrecen should participate in all AstraZeneca clinical trials allocated to Hungary. Through the present agreement, we are elevating this ambition to a strategic level in order to give patients access to the most recently available therapies as soon as possible, thereby bringing about meaningful change in their lives- said Mátyás Faluvégi, Director of AstraZeneca Biopharma, at the signing ceremony of the cooperation agreement.
The parties involved expect the joint projects to yield tangible results soon not only in Hungary but also in international scientific and professional circles and activities.
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