Effective Fighting of Diseases

It is still not possible to cure the root causes of two thirds of all known diseases. A large share of these diseases occur frequently and are either characterised by the early death of the patient or associated with a chronic progression, sometimes with significant losses in quality of life and great, lasting pain. Treatment of the disease symptoms still stands in the foreground, while the actual cause of the disease cannot be eliminated. Accordingly, the focus on "effective fighting of diseases“ is an extremely important aspect of the Health Research Programme.
The areas of focus within this field of activity are concentrated on those diseases and disease groups that are a major burden for people and that are also important from a perspective of health policy. Molecular medicine and genome research open up new possibilities for researching the causes of diseases and developing new therapies. The approval for using funds from the UMTS interest income in this area offers the chance to take strong, effective action.