ENFA presence at EULAR conference in Rome June 16th June 19th. Four committee members from ENFA visited the EULAR conference in Rome. They did this to renew contacts they had made in previous years and to make some new contacts. Their first goal was to get in contact with other associations. That’s why they invested much time in the PARE sessions and attended the social dinner organised by PARE.

Their objective was also to find out if any new information was available for Fibromyalgia patients. For that purpose they visited several symposia and had discussions with the various pharmaceutical companies. The real news on fibromyalgia was a bit disappointing as not much was presented. The only new factor was the criteria presented by the ACR.  We learned that these new criteria should be used as an addition to the already known criteria.  They also were able to visit the poster session about Fibromyalgia.

With some help from the modern technology (Skype)the fifth member of the committee was able to follow the committee meeting which was also scheduled in their busy program.
During the whole EULAR conference committee members were trying to get in contact with potential sponsors for ENFA. Because of the present economic situation and the global cutting in budgets by the pharmaceutical companies this was a difficult task. The future will show if our efforts will have some results.

ENFA = European Network of Fibromyalgia Associations
EULAR = European League Against Rheumatism
PARE = People with Arthritis/Rheumatism Europe
ACR = American College of Rheumatism