Highlights from HARMONY's 4th General Assembly, hosted by HARMONY Partner Menarini.

The 4th General Assembly held on September 26–27 in Florence, Italy, helped to foster the collaboration of HARMONY’s leaders, Partners, Associated Members and Patient Clusters. The program celebrated the success of HARMONY at its mid-point and used innovative ‘research-a-thons’ to kick-start HARMONY’s second wave of research projects across seven Hematologic Malignancies (HMs). This edition of the annual meeting was hosted by HARMONY Partner Menarini.

During the ‘research-a-thons’, participants were split into groups and allocated a specific HM to focus on. Their goal was to identify unmet research needs, determine what parameters needed to be evaluated, define the analytical techniques to be used and define new research topics in collaboration with multidisciplinary experts. Involvement of HARMONY’s patient groups, including Acute Leukemia Advocates Network, CLL Advocates Network, Lymphoma Coalition, International MDS Alliance, Myeloma Patients Europe and Childhood Cancer International ensured the patient perspective was reflected in every proposal.

New key research questions were then presented during the General Assembly in order to gain consensus and endorsement from HARMONY Partners and Associated Members. Examples of proposed research topics include:

ALL: Prognostic significance of IKZF1 alterations in adult BCP Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
AML Regulatory strategies based on surrogate endpoints in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
CLL: Other neoplasia in the history of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia with or without treatments
MM: Predictors of outcomes in Multiple Myeloma in the real world
NHL: Using big data to optimize outcomes in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma

The next step will be to translate these research questions into new HARMONY research projects, which we hope to launch in the first half of 2020.

In addition to our hands-on ‘research-a-thons’, several plenary presentations and panel discussions took place. These delivered key progress updates on HARMONY’s ongoing research efforts and gave attendees the opportunity to learn more about the value of HARMONY from experts in the field.

View the HARMONY 4th General Assembly Handout >

View our progress update for more information on HARMONY’s achievements >

View our 'Results' page to see the scientific posters presented for each of the 7 HMs > (select scientific publications)

HARMONY is gaining increasing recognition in Italy. Click here to read about its developments

Stay up to date with our meetings page for more information on the next General Assembly and other events that HARMONY will be leading and attending.

Become involved with HARMONY today! Contact us to find out how you can participate in ongoing and future research initiatives.

Receive the latest news. Click here to subscribe!

Public-private partnership for Big Data in Hematology

HARMONY and HARMONY PLUS are funded through the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), Europe's largest public-private initiative aiming to speed up the development of better and safer medicines for patients. Funding is received from the IMI 2 Joint Undertaking and is listed under grant agreement for HARMONY No. 116026 and grant agreement for HARMONY PLUS No. 945406. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).