Nationwide investment in precision medicine
An additional investment of SEK 220 million is being made in the national infrastructure Genomic Medicine Sweden, which relies on the SciLifeLab Clinical Genomics platform as a technological backbone. This investment will facilitate the continued introduction of precision medicine into Swedish healthcare.
The Swedish government is allocating an additional SEK 96 million to Genomic Medicine Sweden (GMS) via the national innovation agency Vinnova. The investment is matched by SEK 124 million in co-financing from regional health authorities and universities.
“The Clinical Genomics platform of SciLifeLab is very happy to be able to contribute with expertise and services to GMS to promote precision diagnostics and precision medicine in Sweden”, says the platform director Thoas Fioretos.
GMS was launched in 2018, on the initiative of the Clinical Genomics platform (at that time called the Diagnostics Development platform). Since then, GMS has built up a national organisation based on collaboration between healthcare, academia, industry, patient organisations and public authorities. Support within healthcare is a key issue if new diagnostic tools are to be introduced into healthcare and contribute to more personalised care and treatment; i.e., precision medicine.
The Clinical Genomics platform, consisting of seven nodes located at all universities with medical faculties in Sweden, plays a central role in the technical development of new diagnostic tools that are implemented through GMS. In a national collaboration between the platform and GMS, new diagnostic assays for detecting genetic alterations have been developed for use in healthcare nationwide. This includes broad gene panels and whole-genome sequencing for analysing cancers and rare diseases, which will contribute to improving the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of patients.
In addition to developing new diagnostic tools for healthcare, the Clinical Genomics platform provides service for translational research and clinical studies. Linking refined genetic diagnostics to clinical studies will also be a focus for GMS during the next phase.
“Close collaboration between the Clinical Genomics platform and GMS in promoting clinical studies holds great potential to give more patients access to the increasing number of new, targeted therapies” says Lucia Cavelier, co-director of the Clinical Genomics platform.
