Towards patient information on medicines

The Gravitate-Health and UNICOM projects forge a partnership to implement active, innovative steps towards safe patient information on medicines taken and increase patient safety.

Two key projects are now working together. Gravitate Health aims to equip and empower citizens with improved access to digital information tools that encourage the safe use of medications for improved health outcomes and quality of life. UNICOM strives to ensure that any medication and its components are accurately identifiable in any part of the world through a wide implementation of the IDMP standard across the global medicine eco-system. Whilst UNICOM focuses on cross-border care, Gravitate Health targets priority medicinal product information leaflets. Both projects will interact with patients via citizen-focused interfaces and applications.

The two-project partnership will enable a continuous and early use of findings, resources, and expertise by both projects. The collaboration provides an opportunity to build on two already large networks. The 39 partners in Gravitate Health come from industry (Pharma and small and medium enterprises), civil society, and academia in 15 countries. The project complements the 41 UNICOM partners active in the domains of regulation, eHealth, standardisation, and industry (especially small and medium enterprises).

Current developments in relationship to the FIHR standard per medicinal products represent a particular interest for the two projects. The VULCAN HL7 FHIR Connectathons are held three times per year (The next one will be held in January 2022). These events offer a concrete opportunity to address medicinal products information data flows, FHIR standard resources and a server set-up. The two-project consortia plan to organise seminars and workshops, e.g., GDPR and ethical issues, or IDMP and interoperability standards. Together, partners of both projects will engage in activities of common interest.

This two-project agreement translates into a set of practical and specific objectives. These aims include the willingness of a wide range of stakeholders to reach higher levels of adherence to treatment; safer use of medications (pharmacovigilance); and better health outcomes and quality of life. The projects will also work together to develop new and deeper insights into how the use of available health information, within a setting or for cross-border care, can be optimised. The result of these actions will be represented by effective risk minimisation measures.

Gravitate Health and UNICOM are EU funded projects.