Needs Assessment Workshop Held

Care4Rare's first step, the "Needs Assessment Workshop," was held on 20 December at Ankara Lokman Hekim University. Sanofi Türkiye, within the scope of the PharmUp Entrepreneurship Program it carries out to increase global competitiveness in the healthcare sector in our country and strengthen the innovation ecosystem, came together with Lokman Hekim University Health and Pharmaceutical Technology Center (LHUSTEK) and Teknopark İstanbul to launch a new project called Care4Rare with the aim of discovering and promoting innovative healthcare solutions in the field of rare diseases. At the "Needs Assessment Workshop," under the moderation of Prof. Dr. Onur Burak Dursun, Head of the Ministry of Health Autism, Intellectual Special Needs and Rare Diseases Department, and Prof. Dr. Bülent Gümüşel, the needs included in the Rare Diseases Health Strategy and Action Plan that can be met with innovative digital technologies were discussed. The workshop, which took place with intensive participation from officials of the Ministry of Health Health Services General Directorate, Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency Public Health General Directorate, Health Development General Directorate, Turkish Health Services Presidency (TÜSEB) and the Social Security Institution, also received contributions from specialist physicians in the field of Rare Diseases and patient association representatives. Around 4 main topics for rare diseases—the central focus of the project—namely "Increasing Awareness and Knowledge Level," "Supporting Patients and Patient Families," "Diagnosis of Rare Diseases" and "Treatment and Care Services," subjects related to the effective use of health data alongside technologies such as artificial intelligence, decision support algorithms, mobile applications and telemedicine services were addressed. Participants underlined the importance of cooperation in supporting solutions that could be developed in this area and reaching target audiences.   In the coming months, entrepreneurs applying to the Care4Rare project will enter the evaluation process by shaping their solutions based on the workshop report informed by expert input. Regarding the workshop held, Pelin Yunusoğlu, General Manager of Sanofi Specialty Care Türkiye, Levant and Iran, stated: "Our Care4Rare program is a program we have launched to identify all needs of patients with rare diseases from diagnosis through treatment and follow-up processes, to share these needs with startups, and to enable health-focused startups to bring innovative digital solutions suitable to these needs. The program truly excites us greatly. Within this scope, we realized our workshop with the participation of our stakeholders where expert health authorities in the field were present. At the workshop, we found the opportunity to evaluate priority needs from the perspective of all stakeholders in our ecosystem and discussed them in detail. The report to be prepared in line with these identified needs will be shared with a broad pool of entrepreneurs. Our entrepreneurs will also direct their work in line with the outputs of the workshop and continue their efforts on solutions that will ease the lives of patients. As Sanofi, we are proud to be ambassadors here and also to bring some projects to life together with our business partners."  

Activities spanning the entire year have been planned

Business partners and stakeholders will participate in the Needs Assessment Workshop, Sprint and Demoday events within the scope of the program, playing a critical role in the selection of entrepreneurs applying to the program. In the subsequent stages of the program, which will continue with steps to form and support solution development teams, all stakeholder contributions and evaluations will be followed by: trainings for entrepreneurs, a solution development-focused Sprint event, and a Demoday event at Teknopark İstanbul in the second half of the year.