Daniel Bachiller coordinates the Ibero-American Network for Advanced Therapies promoted by the CSIC and the AECID to share advances in biomedicine with Ibero-America

Daniel Bachiller, a researcher at the Margarita Salas Center for Biological Research (CIB-CSIC), coordinates the Ibero-American Network for Advanced Therapies (RITA), promoted by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID). This initiative aims to improve health care and the training of its professionals through technology transfer, legislative development, and the promotion of R&D&i in Ibero-American health systems.

The so-called Advanced Therapies use gene therapy, cell therapy, and tissue engineering to treat diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer, or muscular dystrophy, as well as injuries related to infections, burns, etc., and consequently have a great potential for the future of medicine.

Within the framework of this network, the CSIC and the AECID organized between July 18 and 29 the Online Workshop "Protection of Intellectual Property in Advanced Therapies", aimed at participants from all Ibero-American countries, with the aim of providing an overview of the different activities necessary to make the developments in these technologies become a driver of change in clinical practice, and open new technological areas to the market.

“The main idea is to leave no one behind, bridge the scientific-technological gap in access to new advanced therapies and promote the exchange of knowledge in the area of ​​regenerative medicine, gene and cell therapy, and their clinical application in Ibero-America”, Bachiller explains.

Additionally, this initiative seeks to establish permanent communication networks between researchers and health personnel from different countries, facilitate the exchange of personnel between institutions, provide them with management tools to carry out exchanges, and promote the creation of regional financing programs for the execution of collaborative health research projects.

The network has been created within the framework of INTERCOONECTA, the Knowledge Transfer, Exchange and Management Plan for the Development of Spanish Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean, which seeks to respond to the needs of an Ibero-America in profound transformation, and the renewal of Spanish Cooperation in the region.

More information:

CSIC Press Release (in Spanish): link.