New strategy for CONNECT

CONNECT is entering a new strategic period with a clear objective: to ensure faster and more systematic implementation of precision cancer medicine in the Norwegian healthcare system. The aim is to enable more patients to access targeted diagnostics and treatment within the public system.

One of the two chairs of CONNECT, Hege Edvardsen, describes the new collaboration strategy in this article. Photo: GSK

This is an AI-translated version from the original Norwegian article.

“The objective of CONNECT is to ensure that new cancer treatments become available to all cancer patients who can benefit from them,” emphasises Sigbjørn Smeland. As one of the two chairs of CONNECT, he represents the public sector as Head of the Cancer Clinic at Oslo University Hospital.

The public–private collaboration aimed at accelerating and systematising the implementation of precision cancer medicine in the Norwegian healthcare system has recently updated its strategy.

After five years spent establishing national diagnostic preparedness, clinical trials, funding models and competence building, the collaboration is now shifting its emphasis from start-up to implementation and scaling.

Adjusted focus areas

“We have adjusted the focus areas of what is included in precision medicine. This reflects the significant structural developments that have taken place in Norway, including improved access to genetic analyses and diagnostics, where several methods have emerged as important for delivering precision medicine to patients. We now have a more integrated focus on data across all work packages and a stronger forward-looking perspective than before. It is important to have a strategy that is both relevant and inspiring,” says Chair Hege Edvardsen, who represents the private sector as Medical Lead for Oncology and Haematology at GSK. In the next period, CONNECT will contribute, among other things, to:

• increased capacity in precision diagnostics

• more clinical studies (particularly early-phase trials)

• more predictable processes for implementation, and for the structuring and availability of biomarker and genomic data for real-world evidence

The strategy is anchored in the National Strategy for Personalised Medicine 2023–2030, the National Cancer Strategy, and relevant European initiatives. It clarifies priorities and organisation up to 2027.

In the new strategy, CONNECT is also more clearly separated from the IMPRESS study. Read more about the relationship between CONNECT and IMPRESS here.

A unique collaboration

CONNECT was established in 2020 as a unique collaboration between public authorities, academia, major health trusts and private stakeholders. The public–private partnership aimed to create dialogue in areas of precision cancer medicine characterised by high complexity and to help move the field forward.

Over the first five years, CONNECT has contributed to establishing diagnostics, solutions and models for financing between the public and private sectors. The collaboration has also helped make health data available and initiate clinical studies. According to Chair Edvardsen, the project has built trust, understanding and strong dialogue between stakeholders over the past five years.

“In recent years, we have seen positive developments in precision medicine for cancer patients, but important questions remain. CONNECT provides a forum where these questions can be discussed in principle among the stakeholders, to see whether solutions can be identified and brought forward. In any case, dialogue between all parties is essential for further developing the field,” says Edvardsen.

These are the partners in CONNECT.

“We have achieved a great deal in precision medicine for cancer patients since the start five years ago, but there are still solutions that need to be put in place, and new challenges that must be addressed. The unique tripartite collaboration in CONNECT is an important instrument in this process,” says Smeland.

The working groups

The work carried out within CONNECT is organised through working groups. This structure will continue, and the working groups are as follows:

Working group 1: Development of treatment, including clinical studies and new diagnostics

Working group 2: Implementation of treatment

Working group 3: Health data in precision cancer medicine

All areas are interconnected and require collaboration between the working groups. For example, when working group 1 works on implementing new diagnostics, working group 3 should automatically be involved to assess what types of health data can be generated from this work.

Read more about what the working groups are doing.

Vision and mission

A strong strategy includes both a vision and a mission. In CONNECT, the vision states that cancer patients should have broad and equitable access to modern precision diagnostics and treatment within the Norwegian public healthcare system.

The mission states that CONNECT will contribute to the continued implementation of precision oncology in Norway through dialogue, collaboration and the joint development of solutions, ensuring that the clinical benefit of a medicine is realised for all relevant groups of Norwegian cancer patients.