German American Conference

Cancer is the second most frequent cause of death in both the U.S. and Germany, only surpassed by cardiovascular diseases, with a life-time risk of around 40 %. Being one of the clinically most pressing issues in the Western world, billions of dollars are invested each year into developing novel treatment strategies involving digital and personalized medicine. By treating every single patient with a unique strategy much more efficient therapy is possible. However, treatments which are not targeting a broad range of patients anymore are usually associated with a much higher cost to the patient.

What is the potential of these cutting-edge technologies and what is the best way to implement them into our healthcare systems? And how can we achieve an efficient interplay of government, academia and industry on a national and an international level?

The road towards breakthroughs in research is long and the road to making it accessible for patients is even longer. Healthcare, and in particular cancer care, is a topic in which business, economic and public interests crash and which needs coordinated efforts to get from bench to bedside.