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Obama urged Congress in his address to boost research funding
to support new investments in "precision medicine." "I want the
country that eliminated polio and mapped the human genome to
lead a new era of medicine – one that delivers the right
treatment at the right time," Obama said, noting the approach
had helped reverse cystic fibrosis in some patients.
"Tonight, I'm launching a new precision medicine initiative to
bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetes –
and to give all of us access to the personalized information we
need to keep ourselves and our families healthier."
The sequencing of individual genomes, read-outs of a person's
complete genetic information, could speed scientific research
and help drug companies and physicians tailor medicines to an
individual's genetic profile.
Using genomic data to identify which patients will benefit could
save tens of billions of dollars now spent on ineffective drugs.
Obama's call follows a move announced last year in England under
which a company owned by the Department of Health aimed to
sequence 100,000 whole genomes from National Health Service
patients by 2017.
(Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Peter
Cooney)
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