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SIR JOHN CHISHOLM EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN GENOMICS, ENGLAND
Columbus didn’t achieve what he set out to do, but he did discover America. It’s a similar issue for genomics and the 100,000 Genomes Project announced by David Cameron in 2012 – which aims to complete 100,000 DNA sequences taken from NHS patients with cancer and rare disease over the next four years.
The long awaited era of personalised medicine is now really on its way and the scale of the datasets available will become truly colossal. As health services become increasingly data driven, generalist provision will give way to precise diagnosis followed by treatment in specialist centres and patients will play a much greater part in their own treatment pathway. The era of blockbusters will end and be replaced by highly targeted molecules that can be recommended through digital screening based on a precise molecular diagnosis.
BARONESS SUSAN GREENFIELD SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
We shouldn’t lose sight of the objectives in the white heat of excitement around new technologies. We need to put genes in their place and see the context in which they are working.
In terms of Alzheimer’s disease, the ‘dream’ is to have a blood marker that will give an accurate early indication of the disease – to allow for more timely treatment intervention.
There has been no new drug for 10 years despite the massive muscle of pharma, because of the slavish dogma to the amyloid protein. While amyloid may play a part in the secondary or tertiary cascade – it is not the cause of Alzheimer’s. We need to fi nd the basic mechanism so that we can develop a genetic approach to combat this devastating disease. What we should be getting excited by is the potential for diagnosis and modelling –not new treatments.
JEREMY HAIGH EUROPEAN COO R&D, AMGEN
If we’re going to make sure patients’ needs are met we have to radically change the traditional model of drug development that takes on average 14 years, costs more than a billion dollars, and might result in a product that has very little added benefi t. Genomics will provide a much needed impetus for this change.
As diseases fragment, every condition could become an orphan disease – and diseases with common molecular faults will have common therapies. Diagnostic tests will determine who is right for a new treatment and patients will be segmented into smaller subsets based on outcomes.
For the fi rst time I can recall, everyone is aligned with the need to be disruptive – to engage multiple stakeholders, enable collaboration, to revise the regulatory and reimbursement pathways and to ensure that, ultimately, patients receive earlier access to innovative stratifi ed medicines.
© 2014 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, and a member fi rm of the KPMG network of independent member fi rms affi liated with KPMG International Cooperative, a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
GENOMICS
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