Benefits of EU research on allergy, asthma and COPD On June 17th 2014, EFA invites all stakeholders interested in ongoing EU-funded research initiatives for allergy, asthma and COPD to the European Parliament for the event “Does innovative research for allergy and respiratory disease in the European Union benefit patients?”. 
The event will be hosted by Catherine Stihler, Member of European Parliament underscoring the importance of innovative health research, but most importantly its implementation for Europe. After her introduction follows EFA’s President, Breda Flood, who will overview our involvement in multiple EU projects as patients. The Deputy Head of Unit for Medical Research in DG RESEARCH, Dr. Karim Berkouk, will give the European Commission perspective, providing context and insight into health research funding programmes. Researchers and patients will then present the latest developments of the AirPROM, MeDALL, U-BIOPRED and EARIP projects to showcase their potential contributions to both research and the lives of patients. Two panel sessions will follow the presentations with diverse groups of panellists, the first of which discussing how these EU-funded research projects on respiratory diseases can shape a better future for both patients and national healthcare systems alike. A discussion will follow afterwards seeking to address whether or not the U-BIOPRED ‘Patient Input Platform’ (PIP) could receive consideration as a model for patient involvement which could inspire a European variant for all disease areas to be created someday. Participants in the discussion of the potential for a ‘European PIP’ will contribute their perspectives with an objective of assessing whether it could be an effective means for patient-centred approach to research.