Balancing Personalised Medicine and AI Ethics : Insights from HT-Advance

At the French conference “Plan France Médecine Génomique 2025” (PFMG2025) in Marseille, which took place last summer, our consortium partner Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III represented by Emmanuelle Rial-Sebbag and Pauline Rateau, showcased a poster on their work in the project .
It presents one of the challenges of HT-Advance, focusing on the complexities of using genetic data in research and the implications for AI system deployment.
This work sparks an important conversation about how we can balance innovation and personalised medicine with ethics and data integrity.

The poster being in French language, please find below a short summary in English:
The HT-Advance project faces significant ethical, legal, and technical challenges due to the sensitivity of genetic data used in AI systems. Although AI can improve personalised healthcare and hypertension management, it also heightens risks such as privacy breaches, algorithmic bias, discrimination, and diagnostic errors. Compliance with GDPR rules, especially data minimisation, pseudonymisation, and secure data-sharing agreements, is essential. Participants must retain strong rights over their data, including control over incidental findings. To prevent unfair outcomes, the project must use unbiased datasets, maintain human oversight, and follow ethical AI standards. Transparency and clear explanation of AI decisions are crucial to ensure trust and informed consent.

Poster PFMG 2025 final

Poster on Fundamental Rights in the Use of Artificial Intelligence

In HT-Advance we also aim to address ethical, legal and regulatory issues related to the uptake of our MOMICS strategy, in particular the ethical issues of implementing artificial intelligence (AI)-based companion diagnostics into clinical practice.  The team from UT3 (CERPOP, BIOETHICS team, Toulouse), who is in charge of this part of the project , recently presented a poster on  “Integrating patients’ Fundamental Rights in the Use of Artificial Intelligence enabled Medical Devices

(AI-MD) in clinical research: the example of the HT-Advance European project” at the European Association of Health Law meeting in Warsaw last September with the aim of discussing fundamental rights (autonomy, privacy, non-discrimination…). UT3 is working hand in hand with the other consortium partners to integrate those important aspects into the design of the operational workplan from the beginning of the project. At the end of the project the team of UT3 aims to produce recommendations for the use of AI systems in healthcare.

Poster EAHL HT-Advance

ExCom meeting in October 2024 in Munich

On october 23rd  HT-Advance held a productive Executive Committee meeting in beautiful Munich to discuss the progress and future plans of HT-Advance. A lot of insightful discussions and collaborative efforts that will continue to drive our project forward.
Stay tuned for more updates !

Exciting News from HT-Advance! 

We’re thrilled to announce that the first patient had been included in the HT-PREDICT study end of May 2024, marking a significant milestone for our consortium. 🌟

Radboudumc has led the way by successfully enrolling the first patient, setting the stage for a promising journey ahead. A special shoutout to @Joost Rutten, PI of the HT-PREDICT study, and Wendy van Haaren-Vorstenbosch Haaren for their dedication in conducting the screening visit with the patient.

As many of you know, patient recruitment can be one of the most challenging aspects of research. However, through our collaboration with Henk Schers and the Radboudumc Academisch Huisartsen Netwerk (AHN), we’ve been able to tap into primary care resources, ensuring access to patients with primary hypertension without extensive health problems. A huge thank you to everyone involved for their invaluable contributions and support.

photo by Teun Keijzer

Annual consortium meeting 2024 Zürich

Last week HT-Advance partners met at the University of Zürich for their annual consortium meeting. Fruitful days of discussion and preparation of notably our first upcoming clinical trial!