“EU legislation may seem difficult and even frightening to our customers. I would tell them not to worry; this will be handled. Medaffcon’s clients don’t need to fret, as Medaffcon will take care of this on their behalf,” assures Riikka Mattila, PhD, Medaffcon’s Scientific Advisor.
Finland’s starting points for implementing the European Health Data Space EHDS legislation are excellent. Finland’s Act on the Secondary Use of Health and Social Data forms the basis of EHDS legislation.
The Finnish Social and Health Data Permit Authority Findata has been practicing EHDS-like legislation for the secondary use of social and health data in Finland since 2019. Medaffcon has been operating in Finland in accordance with EHDS-like legislation since 2020, promoting a regulatory-compliant and innovative research environment.
According to Medaffcon Scientific Advisor, PhD, Riikka Mattila, the impact of EHDS will be maneagable in the Finnish market but considerably larger elsewhere in Europe.
“While it is not yet precisely known how the law will ultimately be harmonised in Finland, the necessary adjustments will be smoothly integrated by Medaffon’s RWE team.”
“We have a significant head start. One could say that the further a country is from Finland, the bigger the changes caused by EHDS,” Riikka Mattila states.
The most important effect of EHDS changes is that these changes help combine data from different countries. Currently Finnish data cannot leave Finland, nor can Danish data leave Denmark.
Once EHDS is in force, the movement of data across Europe will be possible.
“That is a huge step forward in RWE research” Scientific Advisor, PhD Riikka Mattila says.
Medaffcon Oy provides research, expert services and consultancy to meet the needs of the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare sector. Contact us!
The prognosis for patients with multiple myeloma (MM) has improved as treatments have advanced, but the disease remains incurable. The prevalence of the disease is increasing in Finland as the population gets older. This is evident from a recently published nationwide retrospective study based on real-world evidence (RWE).
The adoption of new diabetes medications in Finland was active between 2012 and 2019, according to an RWE (Real World Evidence) study published in May 2024. The study was conducted by Medaffcon in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Sanofi.
In the coming years, breakthroughs in neurological and psychiatric drug research are expected to change treatment practices and significantly improve patients’ quality of life. Medaffcon is contributing to this development by conducting, for example, RWE studies (Real World Evidence).
Scientific Advisor
PhD
Riikka joined Medaffcon in February 2021. She has a wide-ranging experience from different therapy areas from atherosclerosis and birth asphyxia to neurodegeneration. She has more than 15 years of experience in research, three of which in Max Planck Institute in Germany. Her PhD thesis from 2011 focused on cholesterol metabolism.
Riikka’s strenghts include broad know-how and interest in diverse therapy areas, as well as enthusiasm and experience in both written and verbal scientific communication. At Medaffcon she enjoys varied projects and effectiveness of research.
Real world evidence fascinates Riikka because there is so much data, and more accumulating all the time, and most of this data is unused. There is potential for findings to support clinicians and the pharmaceutical industry, as well as alleviate the lives of patients. She is also happy that decisions in health care are increasingly evidence based.
Biostatistician
Data Analysis Lead
MSc (Tech.)
+358 44 314 1597
iiro.toppila@medaffcon.fi
Iiro joined Medaffcon in March 2017 as a Biostatistician. For the preceding four years, he has worked as a research assistant in an academic study group, analyzing clinical and genetic patient data. Iiro holds a Master of Science degree in Technology in Bioinformation Technology.
Iiro’s strengths include his strong expertise in statistics and data-analysis, hands-on experience in working with sensitive patient data, and strong interdisciplinary communication skills with experts from various fields. In the field, he is particularly interested in the large data amounts made available with the revolution of technology and how the information received such data can potentially be utilized to draw concrete conclusions, both in order to understand the nature of diseases and to advance the goals of the pharmaceutical industry and patient treatment.
“Machine learning and AI-based solutions will have a major impact on the healthcare sector now and in the future. However, effectively utilizing the already collected and available health-data will have a higher importance in order to improve health-care”.
Sr. Scientific Advisor
RWE Lead
PhD
+358 50 345 2393
mariann.lassenius@medaffcon.fi
Mariann joined Medaffcon’s team in 2016 after finishing her PhD. The transition to real world evidence (RWE) research was a natural continuum to her previous research career. Through RWE studies, she has had the privilege to gain a broad insight into working with different stakeholders within the healthcare field. The vast proportion of her days goes towards interacting with clients, planning and performing RWE studies, and supporting Medaffcon’s RWE team. Subjects that keep her work interesting are the vast variability of customers and projects, problem-solving, and interacting with people.
“The number of RWE studies has increased since stakeholders within the healthcare industry have an increasing demand for knowledge-based decision making tools that need to be fulfilled. The future, therefore, has an ever-increasing emphasis on RWE”.