26.10.11
Genetic advances to benefit NHS
The NHS must prepare for significant advances in genetic research that will have an effect on every area of medicine, according to the Foundation for Genomics and Population Health.
New technology could soon change the type of care available for cancer and rare conditions, as treatment could be tailored to the individual. This is possible because the cost of sequencing the genetic code has fallen dramatically.
Genetics could help with specific diagnosis of rare illness, as well as helping to predict which cancer drugs are likely to be more effective, or to have fewer side effects.
The report's lead author, Dr Caroline Wright, told the BBC: “I think it will come fairly quickly, probably for the rare disorders to start with, particularly kids with developmental disorders, any kind of undiagnosed rare condition where you suspect it to be genetic, but you don't know where to look.
“The biggest challenge in a way is interpretation. Next generation sequencing techniques that have improved and become much cheaper are the beginning of the problem.
“Once you’ve got your three or six billion letters of code, finding the answer in that is going to be very difficult. I think at the moment the NHS really needs desperately to build up the infomatics support.”
The Government has requested guidance on how this research can be used in the NHS. A Department of Health spokesperson said: “We continue to work closely with the research community and the research arm of NHS to look at the feasibility of specific programmes and new developments.
“We have asked the Human Genomic Strategy group to look at advances in this area and to evaluate their benefit to the NHS. Their report is due in January 2012.”
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