Officine for Precision Medicine presents Marche BioBank

The National Foundation HEAL ITALIA, established thanks to funding from the Ministry of University and Research under the PNRR, aims to generate new scientific knowledge and transfer it to the healthcare world to translate it into clinical practice, thus contributing to the fight against chronic diseases through earlier diagnoses and targeted therapies.

The event, included in the HEAL ITALIA Roadshow, represents an opportunity for the political, healthcare, academic and business worlds to meet, as it opens new scenarios and prospects for regional and national healthcare based on Precision Medicine Centers.

Marche BioBank is the first Biobank in the Marche Region dedicated to the correct collection of biological samples from people affected by rare diseases and their precise characterisation through innovative instrumentation. Marche BioBank is a non-profit consortium company (S.c.a.r.l.) established through a public-private partnership in the Marche region, comprising 3 universities — UnivPM, Uniurb, Unicam — and 3 companies active in the field of biotechnology — Diatheva, Diatech, Mivell. The creation of the S.c.a.r.l. represents the final stage of a journey that began with the award of a competitive tender promoted by the Marche Region in 2019, funded through European regional development funds and co-financed by the partnership. From the initial project proposal, the objective has been to create a technological infrastructure serving the academic, industrial and healthcare sectors, with the ultimate aim of improving the health of citizens affected by rare diseases and fostering the industrial development of the Marche biotechnology sector.

Six years later, the project has become a reality and has been further enriched by the entry of UnivPM into the National Foundation HEAL ITALIA, established thanks to PNRR funding from the Ministry of University and Research. HEAL ITALIA is the extended partnership aimed at systematically introducing Precision Medicine into the National Health Service. Precision Medicine aims to capture individual differences between patients — whether as individuals or in groups — and use them to define personalised care pathways. HEAL ITALIA immediately identified Biobanks and their associated Laboratories as indispensable tools for the implementation of the programme, since without the correct preservation and characterisation of biological samples and their networking between Hospitals and Research Centers — both academic and industrial — it is not possible to develop the diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic innovations needed to provide precise care to individual patients.

Among these, people affected by rare diseases are those most in need of Precision Medicine. Rare Diseases — defined as such when there are fewer than 5 cases per 10,000 inhabitants — are in fact extremely numerous (over 6,000 diseases for a total of approximately 2 million patients in Italy), highly heterogeneous (very different conditions are grouped under the same designation), difficult to diagnose (diagnostic delay is significantly higher than in other diseases) and to treat (they often lack specific therapies). Marche Biobank is the first Precision Medicine Workshop in the Marche Region and constitutes the pilot node for the development of the National Precision Care Center for Rare Diseases under the aegis of HEAL ITALIA and in collaboration with the National Centers being established for other types of diseases.

The event, included in the HEAL ITALIA Roadshow, represents not only an opportunity to present this content, but also to bring together the political, healthcare, academic and business worlds and open a dialogue on the new scenarios and prospects for regional and national healthcare based on Precision Medicine Centers.

Scientific Director Prof. Gianluca Moroncini