The F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG company and the Croatian government on Thursday signed a memorandum of cooperation on the preparation and implementation of a project on personalised medicine in oncology aimed at improving treatment outcomes.

“This is a big deal because Croatia will potentially become the third laboratory in Europe for personal medicine diagnostics,” said Health Minister Milan Kujundzic, who signed the document.

This means “markedly better treatment outcomes and markedly more rational medication” for all patients with malignancies, he added.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, present at the signing ceremony, welcomed the cooperation in combating malignancies.

The memorandum brings HRK 90 million in funding for a laboratory at the Zagreb University Hospital and offers patients an innovative approach based on research and personalised medicine, which leads to a more effective treatment of malignant diseases, he said, adding that this contributed to the development of Croatian medicine.

Plenkovic recalled that two years ago he and F. Hoffmann-La Roche CEO Christoph Franz agreed on the inclusion of Croatian patients in a clinical trial for a spinal muscular atrophy drug which enabled many patients to have free treatment.

The director of La Roche’s Croatian branch, Milorad Gosev, said Croatia had become the first of four countries to receive funds for personalised medicine and the first that would start using them.

He added that 30 health workers would be hired at the Zagreb University Hospital lab, which he said could be opened before next summer.