Representatives from Patient Group, Civic Organisation and Industry enter into new collaborative project to improve the management of chronic pain in the EU
Brussels / Rome / Aachen, 20 November 2012. Pain Alliance Europe (PAE) representing chronic pain patients in Europe, Active Citizenship Network (ACN) and Grünenthal have entered into an official partnership on the development of European Pain Patient Pathways Recommendations. The projects will run until December 2014 and aims to create a greater awareness of chronic pain and to promote European policy-making for improved management of chronic pain.
While the political framework of the project is designed by PAE representing the patients' voice in Europe, ACN will be responsible for the scientific design, methodology and contents. The pharmaceutical company Grünenthal will be responsible for financial and non-financial support.
"Chronic pain is a significant societal and economic burden in Europe: For the people affected, for their caregivers, but also for our health care systems", explains Joop van Griensven, PAE President. "PAE's mission is to improve the quality of life of people who have to live with chronic pain day by day. With this partnership patients all over Europe can work together to identify with all stakeholders best practice, accessibility and possibilities for effective pain treatment. By doing this we can develop a proposal for pain management for all European Member States in a joint and coordinated effort".
Teresa Petrangolini, ACN Director and Project supervisor adds: "Civic participation is essential in the public policy-making process: Only an holistic approach respecting all stakeholders involved can produce realistic and implementable models for integration in our health-political systems. ACN has been working in this field for more than 30 years and we are proud to be able to join in this partnership and to support and strengthen the voice of chronic pain patients in Europe."
"Concentrating exclusively on the therapy area of 'pain' Grünenthal's objective is to become the most patient-centric company and a leader in therapy innovation", comments Alberto Grua, Executive Vice President from Grünenthal Europe & Australia. "We feel privileged to enter into such a promising project which will create a bottom-up approach for effective and holistic pain management putting the patient in the centre of the whole process. PAE and ACN are two strong and internationally-acting patient and citizens' groups and we will support their ideas and activities to ensure highest respect of the patients' needs."
More information on the project is available at http://www.activecitizenship.net/patients-rights/projects/87-pain-patient-pathway-recommendations.html
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About Pain Alliance Europe (PAE)
PAE is an NGO umbrella organisation of 23 national associations in 13 EU Member States, representing 275,000 individual patients committed to improve the quality of life of people with chronic pain. For PAE, quality of life for a chronic pain patient means giving the patient the right to choose the best possible solutions and support to live his life according to his possibilities and wishes. PAE was officially founded in the European Parliament hosted by Marian Harkin (MEP, IRE) on November 29th 2011. It aims to promote awareness for chronic pain, to promote a European policy on chronic pain and to reduce the impact of chronic pain on the European society on all areas. More information: www.pae-eu.eu
About Active Citizenship Network (ACN)
ACN was initiated in December 2001 as the European and international interface of the Italian civic participation organisation Cittadinanzattiva (Active Citizenship). ACN is a flexible network of European civic organizations which are involved as partners in its different projects, addressed to encourage active participation of citizens in European policy-making. ACN mirrors Cittadinanzattiva's Italian policies, such as health, consumer protection, corporate social responsibility, education and training at the global level. ACN's mission is to promote and support the construction of the European citizenship as an "active citizenship" which means the exercise of citizens' powers and responsibilities in policy-making. More information: www.activecitizenship.net
About Grünenthal
The Grünenthal Group is an independent, family-owned international research based pharmaceutical company headquartered in Aachen, Germany. Building on its unique position in pain, its objective is to become the most patient-centric company to be a leader in therapy innovation. Grünenthal is one of the last five research-oriented pharmaceutical corporations with headquarters based in Germany which sustainably invests in research and development. These investments amounted to about 25 % of revenues in 2011. Grünenthal's research and development strategy concentrates on select fields of therapy and state-of-the-art technologies. We focus on the intensive search for new ways to treat pain better, more effectively and with fewer side-effects than before. Altogether, the Grünenthal Group has affiliates in 26 countries worldwide. Grünenthal products are sold in more than 155 countries and approx. 4,500 employees are working for the Grünenthal Group worldwide. In 2011, Grünenthal reached estimated revenues of 947 Mio €. More information: www.grunenthal.com.
