Politicians want to make the most of personalised medicine for the NHS
The new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Personalised Medicine will hold its official launch event in the House of Commons tomorrow. The Group aims to help the NHS and patients make best use of the increasing availability of cutting-edge technologies to provide more personalised health and care.
Cambridge biotech cluster is playing a significant role in the new initiative, with Cambridge-based science for health policy think tank the PHG Foundation providing the secretariat, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute at Hinxton one of the supporting partners, alongside BMJ and the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA).
More than one hundred stakeholders from the patient community and the clinical, research, policy and commercial sectors will join parliamentarians led by the Group’s Co-Chair Lord Norman Warner to discuss the nature of personalised medicine and implications for the NHS.
“As a two-time cancer survivor, personalised medicine has been a dream of mine and I am so keen to move this APPG forward…Working closely with my Co-Chair Lord Warner, and the other parliamentary officers and members, I believe this Group will provide a much-needed forum, for productive discussion and insightful debate, on how personalised medicine offers us opportunities to provide a more efficient and effective NHS.”
APPG Chair Jo Churchill MP for Bury St Edmunds
Delegates will hear from distinguished speakers Prof Peter Johnson (Chief Clinician, Cancer Research UK) and Prof Hugh Watkins (Head of the Department of Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford) on the benefits of personalised medicine for cancer and cardiac patients. There will also be demonstrations of some of the innovative technologies that could help deliver better, more tailored patient care in the near future, including a pocket-sized DNA analyser, a medical 3D printer, a mobile ECG device and a patient-controlled medical records portal.
“Opportunities for bioscience and technology to transform healthcare and deliver better health via personalised medicine are rapidly expanding, and we are delighted to provide the secretariat to this significant new parliamentary group as they examine these opportunities and consider how to ensure that patients and populations get the greatest health benefits from them.”
Dr Hilary Burton PHG Foundation Director
“We are dedicated to using genomics to tackle human disease around the world through improving our understanding of the relationship between our genes, genomes and disease. The development of personalised medicine, based in part on the use of genomic technologies in the clinic, has the potential to transform health and the provision of healthcare. We are excited to be working with parliamentarians and our partners to explore the challenges of how to make personalised medicine a workable reality for the NHS, patients and the UK public.”
Dr Sarion Bowers Research Policy Advisor at the Sanger Institute
“BMJ is committed to promoting innovation and encouraging new, cost effective solutions to improve patient care. We are delighted to be part of the All-Party Group on Personalised Medicine and we look forward to contributing to ideas that will empower patients and improve healthcare globally.”
Dr Matthew Harker Director, Evidence Centre at BMJ
More information
APPGs are informal cross-party groups that have no official status within Parliament. They are run by and for Members of the Commons and Lords, though many involve individuals and organisations from outside Parliament in their administration and activities.
The Parliamentary officers of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Personalised Medicine are:
- Chair: Jo Churchill MP, Conservative Member for Bury St Edmunds
- Co-Chair: The Rt Hon. Norman Reginald Warner, Unaffiliated Member of the House of Lords
- Vice-Chair: Sir David Amess MP, Conservative Member for Southend West
- Vice-Chair: The Rt Hon. Philip Alexander Hunt, Labour Member of the House of Lords
- Vice-Chair: Chi Onwurah MP, Labour Member for Newcastle Central and Shadow Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy
- Vice-Chair: The Lord Patel KT, Crossbench Member of the House of Lords
- Treasurer: The Lord Willis of Knaresborough, Liberal Democrat Member of the House of Lords
For more information, see the website at: www.personalisedmedicineappg.org
Selected websites
The PHG Foundation
The PHG Foundation is an independent, non-profit health policy think tank based in the Cambridge biotech cluster with the mission making science work for health. We focus on how genomics and other emerging health technologies can provide more effective, personalised healthcare and deliver improvements in health for patients and citizens. We also provide the secretariat for the APPG on Personalised Medicine.
BMJ
BMJ is a healthcare knowledge provider that aims to advance healthcare worldwide by sharing knowledge and expertise to improve experiences, outcomes and value. For a full list of BMJ products and services, please visit bmj.com.
The Northern Health Science Alliance Ltd (NHSA)
The NHSA is a health partnership established by the leading Universities, NHS Hospital Trusts and AHSNs in the North of England to improve the health and wealth of the region by creating an internationally recognised life science and healthcare system.
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is one of the world’s leading genome centres. Through its ability to conduct research at scale, it is able to engage in bold and long-term exploratory projects that are designed to influence and empower medical science globally. Institute research findings, generated through its own research programmes and through its leading role in international consortia, are being used to develop new diagnostics and treatments for human disease.
