Paralysis by Sequestration and the Medical Revolution
Reporter: Larry H Bernstein, MD, FACP
WordCloud Image Produced by Adam Tubman
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/04/03/paralysis-by-s…cal-revolution/
Dysfunction and the Medical Revolution
http://www.genomeweb.com/blog/dysfunction-and-medical-revolution
April 02, 2013
The federal sequestration is cutting back or halting grants that fund “potentially groundbreaking” personalized medicine research funded by the National Institutes of Health, Institute for Systems Biology President Lee Hood opines. Taking his pen to the pages of The Hill, Hood writes that political three-way fisticuffs between lawmakers in both houses and the White House that led to the sequester — an across-the-board five percent whack to all agency budgets — could imperil advances in personalized medicine research that ISB is pursuing.
Hood praises the promise of what he calls P4 medicine, the convergence of new big data and genomic technologies to develop “medicine that is predictive, personalized, preventive, and participatory.”
The forward march of P4 will bring about a new type of medicine, Hood writes, that will improve care through diagnoses and targeted therapies. It also will save money in the long run because new and better treatments and predictive medicine will “reduce the skyrocketing costs of healthcare” and help create new “wellness sector” markets and companies that don’t yet exist, he says.
“In 1986, the automated DNA sequencer I invented was first brought to market, paving the way for the Human Genome Project completed in 2003. In 2010 alone, human genome sequencing activities generated $67 billion in US economic output and created 310,000 US jobs,” he says.
Hood doesn’t want to see a dysfunctional political culture on Capitol Hill hinder the advance of these technologies, markets, and medical innovations.
“On the 10th anniversary of the completion of the Human Genome Project, we can’t let the ongoing tug-of-war in Congress over spending priorities threaten the revolutionary work that is taking place in medical science,” he writes.
Submitted by Scott_K on Tue, 04/02/2013
Couldn’t agree more. I was just up on the Hill meeting with Representatives, and they are sadly bogged down in the sequester. Meanwhile, Medicare has suspended reimbursements for molecular diagnostic testing. Congress is missing an entire paradigm change where the art of patient care has led to the rapid emergence of Personalized Medicine. Without appropriate funding, we will not be able to educate patients, clinicians, reimbursement directors, and Congress themselves on the astounding advancements that have been made in personalized medicine. We can perform whole genome sequencing to identify clinically relevant mutations in individual patient’s tumors- morally, this technology could and should be available to all late stage cancer patients immediately. Frustratingly, we lack the political leadership and vision. In an environment where jobs for many experienced, bright scientists are so desperately needed, the failure of governmental leadership has led to the siphoning off of technological development and jobs to other more perceptive countries. This is a mess that can be corrected in no time with appropriate leadership from the three branches that Dr. Hood mentions. Here’s hoping that Dr. Hood’s communication will open some eyes.
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Personalized Medicine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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