•    The strategic areas at the centre, the existing space limitations and coexistence with the activity of IdiSNA, among other aspects, have been made examined.

Representatives of the Health Commission of the Parliament of Navarra visited the headquarters of the Navarrabiomed biomedical research centre, located in the grounds of the Hospital Universitario de Navarra, today. The entity, managed by the Fundación Miguel Servet, is a joint centre with the Universidad Pública de Navarra, promoted by the Government of Navarra, and is responsible for promoting and facilitating outstanding biomedical research in the public health system.

The regional members of parliament who attended were Leticia San Martín (UPN), Maite Esporrín (PSN), Domingo González (EH Bildu), Isabel Aramburu (Geroa Bai), Daniel López (Contigo-Zurekin) and Maite Nosti (Vox).
The director Maite Mendioroz was in charge of welcoming them and showing the evolution and balance of the centre's activity from its beginnings in 2012 to the present day. The managing director María Bezunartea also participated in this initial meeting.

The Health Commission was able to learn about the centre’s activity in such diverse areas of biomedicine as oncology, cardiology, neurosciences, digestive, geriatrics and active ageing and infectious diseases, amongst others. The explanations were completed with visits to the laboratories located on the second floor of the building, where the parliamentary representatives were able to talk with research staff.  

Likewise, the Commission was able to learn about the challenges faced by Navarrabiomed-Fundación Miguel Servet, including the current space limitations and coexistence with the Health Research Institute of Navarra (IdiSNA). In this sense, Maite Mendioroz referred to the future new Regional Health Law as an opportunity to consolidate outstanding public biomedical research, which his essential to improve the public health system and the health of citizens.

Strategic areas 

Among the centre's strategic issues, personalized medicine, innovation and research with a gender dimension were highlighted. Specifically, the progress of the NAGEN Program projects, a strategic initiative to implement genome analysis in the clinical practice of the Servicio Navarro de Salud-Osasunbidea, and the Precision Medicine Infrastructure associated with Science and Technology (IMPaCT), which is coordinated at the national level by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and in Navarra by Navarrabiomed, was presented.

In terms of biohealth innovation, the centre is developing two Public Innovation Procurement processes that will allow innovative technological developments in the SNS-O: one of these is aimed at promoting public research in the field of treatments, such as the implementation of immunotherapies, and the other is aimed at facilitating access to emergency ultrasound.

Finally, Navarrabiomed-FMS has launched a transversal area of research focused on the differential effect of gender and sex on the diseases commonly studied at our centre. The objective is to better understand the biological and clinical effects that gender and sex exert in different areas of biomedicine and to study the health conditions and diseases that are invisible to the female gender. For the development of this area, Navarrabiomed has the support and advice of ADItech, the coordinator of the Navarra R&D&I System.

Visit to the laboratories 

The Commission visited the centre’s facilities and laboratories, where its members were able to greet the researchers and have the opportunity to learn about their activity first-hand. During the visit, the director stressed the importance of the new equipment for the Advanced Therapies Clean Room (CellMa). This is a highly specialized facility intended for the manufacture of sterile medicines for human use based on cells, genes or tissues. This service, which is expected to be accredited by the Spanish Medicines Agency in 2024, will allow the development of innovative therapies in the SNS-O.