Medicine

Prescribing medicine today is based on a One Size Fits All principle. We have, however, a need for more personalized solutions in several critical therapy areas. The recent development within genomics and diagnostic field has enabled development of new innovative medicinal products relying on a combination of diagnostic tools and personalized dose. This approach is paving the way towards future health care system based on personalized medicines. Limited attention has been given to the personalized end-product requirements for optimal therapeutic performance. Complex dosing regimens will require advances in product design to enable precise administration of the most appropriate dose. Innovations in pharmaceutical product design are required to alleviate potential problems.

Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) is the most coomon acute leukemia in adults with and annual incidence of 4 cases per 100 000 inhabitans. Median age at diagnosis is 70 years. For patients below 55 years, the prognosis has gradually improved the last decades, but elderly patiens still do poorly; the survival being around 30% with no improvement of outome after standard chemotherapy treatment.

Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease. The biological drug Remicade is used in patients with Crohn's disease when normal treatment is inadequate. About one in three of the patients starting treatment with Remicade have sustained good effect over several years. However, serious side effects such as; infections, allergic reactions and concerns about long-term safety, with suspected increased risk of developing cancer, necessitate exploring strategies for when and in which patients to stop (discontinue) treatment again.

Scientific content: The main focus of the current course will be to give an overview of Nordic health research based on register data and introduce a wide range of epidemiologic methods relevant for this type of data. Important health registers, and other Nordic registers relevant for register research will be presented.

As the most commonly diagnosed malignancy and the 2nd leading cause of cancer-related death in men, prostate cancer (PC) is a major health care problem in the Nordic countries, where incidences will rise by 40% in the next 20-ys due to population aging.

The graduate course «Register-based research: Pharmacoepidemiology - drug use and safety» will provide junior researchers with knowledge on how to conduct register-based research across the Nordic countries.

In CP-North a highly qualified multidisciplinary team of researchers from all major Nordic countries will address a number of societal challenges associated with living with, or being a parent of a child, with a life-long disability in Norden by merging data from national registers with unique health data from quality registers.

Globally, the leading cause of years of life lost is ischemic heart disease (IHD). In the EU 13.2 mio. patients are diagnosed with IHD(1) of these 700,000 live in the Nordic countries. IHD causes chest pain, myocardial infarcts, reduced physical capacity and reduces life-expectance. IHD is considered a chronic disease and may progress despite current optimal treatment.