Speaking at the launch of the new All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Personalised Medicine at Portcullis House on Tuesday, the Minister alluded to the country’s great strengths in disease-specific research, but warned that the dream of personalised medicine “really relies on the oil of data and getting that to flow through the system”.
He also emphasised the vital role of patient voice in the development of personalised medicine, saying that his vision for the future was one where “every patient with a diagnosis can join an NHS disease portal, join a community of care, drive a care pathway, share data with the research organisations and with charities who have got a big role in this”.
In a televised message to attendees, APPG chair Jo Churchill MP alluded to her personal experiences with cancer and said that she hoped the new group would 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”.
The event, which was led by APPG co-chair Lord Norman Warner and hosted by Maria Caulfield MP, was attended by over 100 representatives from the patient, clinical, policy and research communities, and attracted parliamentarians including Baroness Masham, Lord Freyberg, Lord Willis and Baroness Hollins.
The group’s secretariat is provided by independent health policy think tank the PHG Foundation, and supported by partners the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, BMJ and the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA).
Meeting participants heard from distinguished medical experts Professor Peter Johnson (Chief Clinician, Cancer Research UK / University of Southampton) and Professor Hugh Watkins (John Radcliffe Hospital / University of Oxford) on the impact of personalised medicine on patient care in cancer and in cardiology.
Attendees also had the opportunity to view and discuss selected examples of innovative technologies that could help to deliver more personalised medicine in the future. AliveCor’s mobile phone ECG device for heart monitoring and Oxford Nanopore Technologies’ hand-held MinION DNA sequencer were joined by Replica 3dm’s medical grade 3D printer and the Patients Know Best online medical records system.
For the next meeting of the Group, parliamentarians will be examining the 100,000 Genomes Project.
Image: APPG Co-Chair The Rt. Hon Lord Norman Warner (left), with the Minister for Life Sciences George Freeman MP
Notes
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:
- 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
www.personalisedmedicineapppg.org
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