STEM CELLS Groundbreaking Discovery. The FUTURE of Personalized Medicine ?
STEM CELLS Groundbreaking Discovery. The FUTURE of Personalized Medicine ? Stem cell researchers are heralding a "major scientific discovery", with the potential to start a new age of personalise...
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STEM CELLS Groundbreaking Discovery. The FUTURE of Personalized Medicine ? - Video
Spotlight on Genomics: Understanding Our Genes - A Step to Personalized Medicine
Visit: http://www.uctv.tv/) Learn about the essential role of genomics in the development of stem cell based therapies. Craig Venter, president and founder ...
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Spotlight on Genomics: Understanding Our Genes - A Step to Personalized Medicine - Video
Pastor Chui Adult Stem Cell Breakthroughs Continue
This is a 9-minute sermon from science. It outlines the accomplishments of adult stem cells in several areas of applications, including heart repair, automatic wound repair, personalized medicine, rebuilding skeletal muscle, stem cell-specific expressions, and new kinds of stem cells to establish fountain of youth. Adult stem cells have high expectations of success and free from ethical concerns. That is why the Japanese medical doctor Shinya Yamanaka won the Nobel Prize in 2012.From:Christopher ChuiViews:1 0ratingsTime:09:21More inEducation
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Pastor Chui Adult Stem Cell Breakthroughs Continue - Video
Nina Tandon: Could tissue engineering mean personalized medicine?
Each of our bodies is utterly unique, which is a lovely thought until it comes to treating an illness -- when every body reacts differently, often unpredictably, to standard treatment. Tissue engineer Nina Tandon talks about a possible solution: Using pluripotent stem cells to make personalized models of organs on which to test new drugs and treatments, and storing them on computer chips. (Call it extremely personalized medicine.) TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world #39;s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more. Find closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages at http://www.ted.com Follow TED news on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com Like TED on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com Subscribe to our channel: http://www.youtube.comFrom:TEDtalksDirectorViews:8662 521ratingsTime:06:20More inScience Technology
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Nina Tandon: Could tissue engineering mean personalized medicine? - Video
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., BOSTON and NEW YORK, Nov. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --GNS Healthcare, Inc. (GNS), the leading healthcare data analytics company focused on enabling personalized medicine to improve human health, today announced that it has entered into a collaboration with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Dana-Farber) and Mount Sinai School of Medicine (Mount Sinai) to create a data-driven computer model of multiple myeloma, the second most common blood cancer in the U.S. that constitutes approximately one percent of all cancers. Created using GNS's supercomputer-driven REFS (Reverse Engineering and Forward Simulation) platform, the models will be used to help researchers discover novel therapies for the disease and to help determine the best existing treatments for patients.
"We have made encouraging progress at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in using gene profiling, proteomic and signaling studies in tumor cell samples treated with existing and novel medicines to get a better understanding of myeloma pathogenesis and to develop novel targeted therapies," said Dr. Ken Anderson, Director, Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center and LeBow Institute for Myeloma Therapeutics at Dana-Farber and Kraft Family Professor of Medicine at Dana-Farber and Harvard Medical School.
"Because of this progress, our team is excited about deploying a powerful, supercomputer driven approach using our multi-layered genomic data to develop computer models to directly define the integrated underlying circuitry of myeloma. We look forward to using these models to identify, create, and implement better treatments for individual multiple myeloma patients," said Dr. Nikhil Munshi, Associate Director, Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center and LeBow Institute for Myeloma Therapeutics at Dana-Farber and Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
"GNS will apply its Big Data analytics platform to create a disease-specific computer model that will yield a powerful new resource to the multiple myeloma research and clinical communitywith the ultimate aim of better outcomes for patients," said GNS CEO and co-founder Colin Hill. "This collaboration with Dana-Farber and Mount Sinai will create models that will help transform the tremendous amount of data coming from new technologies, such as next-generation sequencing, into predictive computer models of disease progression and treatment response for scientists and clinicians. This project is one of many examples of our work in challenging, complex and, sometimes rare, diseases."
In this collaboration, GNS will employ the REFSplatform to reverse engineer network models from next-generation genetic sequencing, proteomic, outcomes and other clinical data. Results from millions ofin silico simulations of the REFS models will provide new insights into the fundamental mechanisms of multiple myeloma, enabling the identification of novel intervention points in the disease for specific groups of patients and the development of more effective medicines.
"Prior published work has shown us that approaches like the REFS platform can develop integrated network models of disease that can be used to uncover novel drivers of disease," said Dr. Eric Schadt, Director of the Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology, Chair of the Department of Genetics and Genomics Sciences and the Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor of Genomics at Mount Sinai. "With the wealth of detailed biological data available in this project, we look forward to a close collaboration with GNS to build a predictive model to elucidate novel insights into this complex disease."
About Multiple Myeloma
Multiple myeloma is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell normally responsible for producing antibodies. In multiple myeloma, collections of abnormal plasma cells accumulate in the bone marrow, where they interfere with the production of normal blood cells. Most cases of myeloma also feature the production of a paraproteinan abnormal antibody which can cause kidney problems. Bone lesions and hypercalcemia (high calcium levels) are also often encountered. Myeloma is diagnosed with blood tests (serum protein electrophoresis, serum free kappa/lambda light chain assay), bone marrow examination, urine protein electrophoresis and X-rays of commonly involved bones. Myeloma is generally thought to be treatable but incurable. Remissions may be induced with steroids, chemotherapy, proteasome inhibitors (e.g. bortezomib), immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) such as thalidomide or lenalidomide and stem cell transplants. Radiation therapy is sometimes used to reduce pain from bone lesions. Myeloma develops in 1-4 per 100,000 people per year. It is more common in men, and for unknown reasons is twice as common in African-Americans as it is in white Americans. With conventional treatment, median survival is 3-4 years, which may be extended to 5-7 years or longer with advanced treatments. Multiple myeloma is the second most common hematological malignancy in the U.S. (after non-Hodgkin lymphoma) and constitutes 1 percent of all cancers.
About REFS
REFS (Reverse Engineering and Forward Simulation) is GNS Healthcare's scalable, supercomputer-enabled framework for discovering new knowledge directly from data. REFS automates the discovery and extraction of causal network models from observational data and uses high-throughput simulations to generate new knowledge.
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GNS Healthcare, Dana-Farber and Mount Sinai Collaborate to Build Computer Model of Multiple Myeloma
Keynote Speaker: Daniel Kraft bull; Presented by SPEAK Inc.
Stanford and Harvard Trained Physician-Scientist, Inventor, Entrepreneur and Innovator Dr. Daniel Kraft has over 20 years of experience in clinical practice, biomedical research and healthcare innovation. Daniel chairs the Medicine track for Singularity University and is Executive Director for FutureMed, a program which explores convergent, exponentially developing technologies and their potential in biomedicine and healthcare. Following undergraduate degrees at Brown and medical school at Stanford, Dr. Kraft was board certified in the Harvard combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics residency program at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children`s Hospital. He went on to complete Stanford fellowships in hematology/oncology bone marrow transplantation, and extensive research in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. He has multiple scientific publications (including in Nature and Science), medical device, immunology and stem cell related patents through faculty positions with Stanford University School of Medicine and as clinical faculty for the pediatric bone marrow transplantation service at UCSF. Dr. Kraft recently founded IntelliMedicine, focused on enabling connected, data driven, and integrated personalized medicine. He is also the inventor of the MarrowMiner, an FDA approved device for the minimally invasive harvest of bone marrow, and founded RegenMed Systems, a company developing technologies to enable adult stem cell based regenerative ...From:speakincViews:0 0ratingsTime:14:53More inPeople Blogs
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Keynote Speaker: Daniel Kraft • Presented by SPEAK Inc. - Video
Timothy J. Triche, MD PhD DBRM Retreat 2012 Genomics and Stem Cell Research
Non Coding RNA Functional RNA Transcripts in Cancer and Development Professor of Pathology, Cancer Biology, Pediatrics Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California Director, Center for Personalized Medicine at Children #39;s Hospital Los AngelesFrom:Clarence WigfallViews:6 0ratingsTime:17:49More inScience Technology
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Timothy J. Triche, MD PhD DBRM Retreat 2012 Genomics and Stem Cell Research - Video
ALBANY, New York, Aug. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Twease.org - New Report Added in Pharmaceuticals Reports Database Companion Diagnostics and Personalized Medicine Market Report 2012 [http://www.twease.org/report/companion-diagnostics-and-personalized-medicine-market-report-2012.htm]
This is the latest and most up-to-date Market Report from Select Biosciences addressing the companion diagnostics (CDx) and personalized medicine marketplace. Personalized medicine is a broad field with several stakeholders all of which must be aligned in order to capture the immense potential value in targeting therapeutics to the correct patient populationthe field of stratified medicine.
To Browse Full Toc Visit: http://www.twease.org/report/companion-diagnostics-and-personalized-medicine-market-report-2012.htm [http://www.twease.org/report/companion-diagnostics-and-personalized-medicine-market-report-2012.htm]
Companion Diagnostics has been rapidly expanding over the past 3 years and in this market report we describe the current state of the marketplace from the following perspectives:
Related Reports:
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MicroRNAs and Exosomes Market [http://www.twease.org/report/micrornas-and-exosomes-market-report-2012.htm]
MicroRNA Market [http://www.twease.org/report/microrna-market-trends-2011.htm]
MicroRNA Research and Disease Associations [http://www.twease.org/report/microrna-research-and-disease-associations-2010-market-report.htm]
Circulating Tumor Cells [http://www.twease.org/report/circulating-tumor-cells-ctcs-and-cancer-stem-cells-cscs-market-global-industry-size-market-share-trends-analysis-and-forecasts-2012-2018.htm]
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Companion Diagnostics and Personalized Medicine Market Report 2012: Twease.org
DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/vxwrkb/personalized_medic) has announced the addition of the "Personalized Medicine - A Global Market Overview" report to their offering.
This report review, analyze and projects the personalized medicine market for global and the regional markets including the United States, Europe and Rest of World. The market numbers illustrated in this report only represent the market exclusively for the product segments and technologies enunciated above. The market, in this report, does not include the associated hardware equipment or software technologies that are used to manage patient data. The study includes recent and current trends related to technology and the market along with the key industry developments.
The market for personalized medicine product types analyzed in this study includes Targeted Biologics, Proteomics & Genomics, Genetically Modified (GM) Products, Wellness & Disease Management, Other Molecular Diagnostics and Self/Other Diagnostics. The report also includes the market analysis for application technologies of personalized medicine - Pharmacogenomics, Point-of-Care Testing, Stem Cell Therapy, Pharmacoproteomics, Pharmacogenetics and Other Technologies. The report analyses the global market in terms of USD Million.
This 350 page global market report includes 43 charts (includes a data table and graphical representation for each chart), supported with meaningful and easy to understand graphical presentation, of the market. The statistical tables represent the data for the global market by geographic region, product type and application technology.
The report covers the brief business profiles of 56 key global players and 77 major players across the United States - 45; Europe - 24; and Rest of World - 8.
The report also provides the listing of the companies engaged in research and development, manufacturing, processing, supplies and distribution of personalized. Also enlisting the academic institutions engages in personalized medicine, the global list covers the addresses, contact numbers and the website addresses of 395 companies.
For more information, including table of contents and list of companies mentioned, please visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/vxwrkb/personalized_medic
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Research and Markets: Personalized Medicine - A Global Market Overview
NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:
`Personalized Medicine can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. For some, it may relate to doctors having knowledge about their case history and the treatment received, which is a morale boosting factor, since everybody wants caregivers who can comprehend an individual's problems. The day is not very far when this level of personal or individual understanding between a patient and a doctor would be much deeper than hitherto anticipated. The coming decade is expected to witness an increase in the use of companion diagnostics and personalized medicines, with pricing incentives and efficiency improvement propelling the market. Current market leaders with diagnostic divisions focusing on biomarker identification would be at an advantage.
This report review, analyze and projects the personalized medicine market for global and the regional markets including the United States, Europe and Rest of World. The market numbers illustrated in this report only represent the market exclusively for the product segments and technologies enunciated above. The market, in this report, does not include the associated hardware equipment or software technologies that are used to manage patient data. The study includes recent and current trends related to technology and the market along with the key industry developments.
The market for personalized medicine product types analyzed in this study includes Targeted Biologics, Proteomics & Genomics, Genetically Modified (GM) Products, Wellness & Disease Management, Other Molecular Diagnostics and Self/Other Diagnostics. The report also includes the market analysis for application technologies of personalized medicine Pharmacogenomics, Point-of-Care Testing, Stem Cell Therapy, Pharmacoproteomics, Pharmacogenetics and Other Technologies. The report analyses the global market in terms of USD Million.
This 350 page global market report includes 43 charts (includes a data table and graphical representation for each chart), supported with meaningful and easy to understand graphical presentation, of the market. The statistical tables represent the data for the global market by geographic region, product type and application technology. The report covers the brief business profiles of 56 key global players and 77 major players across the United States 45; Europe 24; and Rest of World 8. The report also provides the listing of the companies engaged in research and development, manufacturing, processing, supplies and distribution of personalized. Also enlisting the academic institutions engages in personalized medicine, the global list covers the addresses, contact numbers and the website addresses of 395 companies.
PART A: GLOBAL MARKET PERSPECTIVE
1. INTRODUCTION1.1 Product Outline1.1.1 Personalized Medicine's Influence on Large Scale Studies1.1.2 Gazing into the Crystal Ball: What the Future Holds for Personalized Medicine1.1.3 Ramifications of Personalized Medicine for Healthcare Systems1.1.3.1 Pharmaceutical Industry1.1.3.2 Diagnostics Industry1.1.3.3 Insurers1.1.3.4 Physicians1.1.3.5 Government Agencies1.1.3.6 Patients1.1.4 Analysis of Personalized Medicine by Segment1.1.4.1 Targeted Biologics1.1.4.1.1 Overview1.1.4.1.2 Targeted Biologics for Breast Cancer: An Illustration1.1.4.2 Proteomics & Genomics1.1.4.2.1 Proteomics1.1.4.2.1.1 A Complex Problem1.1.4.2.1.2 Post-Translational Modifications1.1.4.2.1.3 Phosphorylation1.1.4.2.1.4 Ubiquitination1.1.4.2.1.5 Other Modifications1.1.4.2.2 Genomics1.1.4.2.2.1 Pharmacogenomics1.1.4.3 Genetically Modified (GM) Products1.1.4.3.1 The Genetic Engineering Process1.1.4.3.1.1 Applications of Genetic Engineering1.1.4.4 Wellness & Disease Management1.1.4.4.1 Wellness Defined1.1.4.4.2 Disease Management Defined1.1.4.5 Molecular Diagnostic Technologies1.1.4.5.1 DNA Sequencing1.1.4.5.2 Biochips and Microarrays1.1.4.5.3 Cytogenetics1.1.4.5.3.1 Personalized Medicine Based on Molecular Cytogenetics1.1.4.5.3.2 Personalized Medicine Based on Cytomics1.1.4.5.4 Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) Genotyping1.1.4.5.4.1 Applications of SNPs Pertinent to Personalized Medicine1.1.4.5.5 Haplotyping1.1.4.5.6 Application of Proteomics In Molecular Diagnosis1.1.4.5.7 Gene Expression Profiling1.1.4.5.8 Personalized Medicine and Molecular Imaging1.1.4.5.9 Diagnostics Based On Glycomics1.1.4.5.10 Combining Diagnostics and Therapeutics1.1.4.5.11 Point-Of-Care (POC) Diagnosis1.1.4.5.12 Genetic Testing For Disease Predisposition1.1.5 Analysis of Personalized Medicine by Technology1.1.5.1 Pharmacogenomics1.1.5.1.1 Drug Metabolism1.1.5.1.2 Applications1.1.5.2 Point-of-Care Testing1.1.5.2.1 Tests that are Most Apt for Specific Scenarios1.1.5.2.2 Advantages1.1.5.3 Stem Cell Therapy1.1.5.3.1 Treatment with Stem Cells1.1.5.3.2 Current Therapies1.1.5.3.3 Future Treatments1.1.5.4 Pharmacoproteomics1.1.5.5 Pharmacogenetics1.1.5.5.1 Prediction of Drug-Drug Interactions1.1.5.5.2 Integration of Pharmacogenetics with the Healthcare System1.1.5.5.3 Pharmacogenetic Tests1.1.5.6 Other Personalized Medicine Technologies1.1.5.6.1 Biochips1.1.5.6.2 Genetic Screening1.1.5.6.3 Metabolomics1.1.5.6.4 Molecular Diagnostics1.1.5.6.5 Pharmacodynamics1.1.5.6.6 Pharmacokinetics1.1.5.6.7 SNP Genotyping1.1.6 The Rationale Behind Personalized Medicine: "One Size no Longer Fits All"1.1.7 The Human Genome: What is It?
2. KEY MARKET TRENDS
Combating Melanoma and Lung Cancer Facilitated Using Novel Personalized Drugs
FARMINGTON
Dr. Frank Torti, the University of Connecticut Health Center's new vice president of health affairs, says that personalized medicine could be the next big thing in health care and that he expects the university to play a major role in it.
With UConn's work in genomics and the upcoming arrival of genetic research company Jackson Laboratory to campus, Torti said the health center is well-positioned to advance the field of personalized medicine, in which a patient's genetic information is used to customize treatment for a particular condition.
"Where we want UConn to lead is where we can actually begin to identify for individual patients drugs that are likely to work for them and be able to identify drugs that are likely to produce toxicity," Torti said, sitting in his new, sparsely furnished office. "If we can do that, we would change the face of how medicine is delivered. If we can do that, people will laugh at 20th-century and early 21st-century medicine the way that we now laugh at some of the things that were done in the 19th century, because we will have changed the way that we conceptualize how to treat a patient for a disease."
Now four weeks into his new position, Torti recently outlined his goals for the next few years.
"We want to find those areas, those intersections where science is going nationally and worldwide that's one part of the question," he said. "The other part of it is where does UConn currently, or could, have a unique contribution to that?"
Developing science is only half the battle. Actually getting it to the public is the other half. Negotiating the maze of the drug approval process is a matter that requires its own expertise, he said, and his earlier work as chief scientist and acting commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should help significantly in that respect.
"I have seen many good compounds, many good potential drugs never reach patients not because they weren't effective, but because the [developer] did not understand the pathway to get that drug approved," he said. "This is a science in its own right. This is a science that I bring to UConn."
UConn President Susan Herbst said that Torti's FDA experience was one reason she wanted to bring him to the health center.
"Drug discovery is a critical part of what we're going for," she said. "With our investment in genomics and in stem cell research, we need the expertise of someone who understands the drug approval process. To have someone who led the FDA, that's special and unusual for a university."
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New UConn Health Center Chief Looks Ahead
Connie K. Ho for RedOrbit.com
A new study by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has discovered two adult stem cell-like subpopulations in adult human skin.
The findings allow for further research to be done in the area of personalized medicine and patient-specific cellular therapies.
The study, using technology from Fibrocell Science, allowed the researchers to identify and confirm two types of cells in human skin cell cultures; the possible source of stem cell-like subpopulations from skin biopsies would be faster to perform, painless, and less invasive than current extractions from adipose tissues and bone marrow.
The research, featured in the inaugural issue of BioResearch Open Access, discusses two subtypes of cells. BioResearch Open Access is a bimonthly, peer-reviewed journal. It features scientific topics like biochemistry, bioengineering, gene therapy, genetics, microbiology, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, stem cells, systems biology, tissue engineering and biomaterials, and virology.
Being able to identify two sub-populations of rare, viable and functional cells that behave like stem cells from within the skin is an important finding because both cell types have the potential to be investigated for diverse clinical applications, commented Dr. James A. Bryne, lead author of the report.
Brynes research, first at Stanford University then at UCLA, focused on reprogramming beginnings of cells from animals and then humans. A graduate of Cambridge University, Bryne studied the intra- and inter-species of epigenetic reprogramming. His work also highlighted how primate embryonic stem cells could be derived from somatic cell nuclear transfers.
The study published in BioResearch Open Access confirmed previous research that identified a rare population of cells in adult human skin that had a marker called stage-specific embryonic antigen 3 (SSEA3). Bryne and his colleagues found that there was an increase in the amount of SSEA3 expressing cells after injury to the human skin. It showed that the SSEA3 biomarker could be used to help identify and isolate cells with tissue-regenerative traits.
Finding these rare adult stem cell-like subpopulations in human skin is an exciting discovery and provides the first step towards purifying and expanding these cells to clinically relevant numbers for application to a variety of potential personalized cellular therapies for osteoarthritis, bone loss, injury and/or damage to human skin as well as many other diseases, remarked Bryne, an Assistant Professor of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA.
Bryne and his team used Fibrocell technology to collect cells from skin samples, cultured the cells in the lab, and purified them by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). The FACS tagged suspended cells with fluorescent markers for undifferentiated stem cells. The researchers were able to separate the rare cell subpopulations from other kinds of cells.
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Study Identifies Cell Subtypes For Potential Personalized Cellular Therapies
OTTAWA , Feb. 1, 2012 /CNW/ - The following is a statement by Russell Williams , President of Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D) on the announcement by the Government of Canada today to ensure that personalized medicine will allow for more effective treatments, thus supporting our Canadian health care system in a more sustainable way.
"Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies welcome this commitment by the Government of Canada to establish personalized medicine as the way to transform the delivery of health care to patients.
"At Rx&D, we believe that providing the right medicine with the right dose to the right patient at the right time is crucial to improving health outcomes for Canadians. With the rise of chronic disease and an aging population, all governments are grappling with unprecedented demand for health care services. It is clear that we face a collective challenge to sustain and improve our health care system where traditional approaches are no longer efficient.
"We commend the Government of Canada's commitment to engage in this work. Pharmaceutical innovation is a proven tool to help Canadians live longer, healthier, more productive lives. It is critical to the future productivity of our country, our workplaces, our communities and our citizens. Innovation is essential for "patient-centered" care.
"The development of new and more effective medicines and vaccines continues to change the face of health care in Canada . Canadians now survive life threatening illnesses and live with chronic conditions in ways not possible for previous generations.
"We applaud the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Genome Canada and the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium for their vision and leadership to develop and implement a scientific innovation that will result in better health for Canadians."
About Rx&D
Rx&D is the association of leading research-based pharmaceutical companies dedicated to improving the health of Canadians through the discovery and development of new medicines and vaccines. Our community represents 15,000 men and women working for 50 member companies and invests more than $1 billion in research and development each year to fuel Canada's knowledge-based economy. Guided by our Code of Ethical Practices, our membership is committed to working in partnership with governments, healthcare professionals and stakeholders in a highly ethical manner.
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Statement - Rx&D Applauds Government of Canada for Investing in Personalized Medicine
Public release date: 31-Jan-2012
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Contact: Adele Blanchard
ablanchard@cihr.gc.ca
613-946-3308
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
This press release is available in French.
Ottawa, Ontario -- The Harper Government today announced an important investment that will help Canadians in getting more effective treatments and make the healthcare system more sustainable through personalized medicine. The announcement was made by the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, and the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology.
"Our Government is committed to improving the quality of life of Canadians," Minister Aglukkaq said. "The potential to understand a person's genetic makeup and the specific character of their illness in order to best determine their treatment will significantly improve the quality of life for patients and their families and may show us the way to an improved health care system and even save costs in certain circumstances."
Personalized medicine offers the potential to transform the delivery of healthcare to patients. Healthcare will evolve from a reactive "one-size-fits-all" system towards a system of predictive, preventive, and precision care. Areas in which personalized approaches are particularly promising include oncology, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, psychiatric disorders, diabetes and obesity, arthritis, pain, and Alzheimer's disease. In all of these fields, and others, a personalized molecular medicine approach is expected to lead to better health outcomes, improved treatments, and reduction in toxicity due to variable or adverse drug responses. For example, cancer patients would be screened to identify those for whom chemotherapy would be ineffective. In addition to saving on the costs of expensive drug treatments, this personalized treatment would prevent a great deal of suffering, while identifying and initiating earlier treatments that would be more effective.
"I applaud Genome Canada and the CIHR for their leadership in supporting research in personalized medicine," said Minister Goodyear. "Innovative approaches like these lead to significant health benefits, enhance our knowledge within the medical arena and can be commercialized to help so many others worldwide."
###
Genome Canada is leading the landmark research competition, with significant collaboration from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium (CSCC). To qualify for funding, researchers must obtain matching funding that at is least equal to that provided through the competition. Matching funding is typically derived from provincial, academic, private sector or international sources.
Fact Sheet
Further information:
Cailin Rodgers
Office of the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq
Federal Minister of Health
613-957-0200
Stephanie Thomas
Special Assistant (Communications)
Office of the Honourable Gary Goodyear
Minister of State (Science and Technology)
613-960-7728
David Coulombe
Media Relations
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
613-941-4563
Marlene Orton
Director, Media Relations
Genome Canada
613-751-4460 x119
BlackBerry: 613-295-1476
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada's health research investment agency. CIHR's mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to enable its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health care system. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to more than 14,100 health researchers and trainees across Canada. http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca
Genome Canada is a non-profit corporation employing an innovative business model based on funding and managing large-scale, multidisciplinary, internationally peer-reviewed genomics research projects in areas such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, the environment and human health. For more information, visit http://www.genomecanada.ca
The Cancer Stem Cell Consortium is a not-for-profit corporation that was incorporated in 2007 to coordinate an international strategy for cancer stem cell research and related translational activities. For more information, visit http://www.cancerstemcellconsortium.ca
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Harper government invests in personalized medicine
The federal government is pledging up to $67.5 million for research into "personalized medicine," which tailors treatment to a patient's genetics and environment.
The funds will flow through Genome Canada, the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the federal government's health research agency.
Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and Minister of State for Science Gary Goodyear made the announcement at the University of Ottawa's health campus Tuesday.
The field of personalized medicine is touted as having the potential to transform the way patients are treated. It looks at the genetic makeup of a person, the patient's environment and the exact course of a particular disease so that an appropriate and effective treatment can be tailored for that individual.
The idea is to move from a one-size-fits-all approach to one that is designed for a specific person and relies on the genetic signatures, or biomarkers, of both the patient and the disease.
Proponents of personalized medicine say it is likely to change the way drugs are developed, how medicines are prescribed and generally how illnesses are managed. They say it will shift the focus in health care from reaction to prevention, improve health outcomes, make drugs safer and mean fewer adverse drug reactions, and reduce costs to health-care systems.
"The potential to understand a person's genetic makeup and the specific character of their illness in order to best determine their treatment will significantly improve the quality of life for patients and their families and may show us the way to an improved health-care system and even save costs in certain circumstances," Aglukkaq said in a news release.
Research projects could last four years
The sequencing of the human genome paved the way for personalized medicine and there have been calls for more research funding so that the discoveries in laboratories can be translated further into the medical field so they will benefit patients more.
Identifying a person's genetic profile, for example, could then indicate a susceptibility to a certain disease, if the biomarkers of that disease have also been discovered. If people know they are genetically at risk of an illness they can take actions to prevent it, and their health-care providers can monitor for it.
Cancer patients could be pre-screened to determine if chemotherapy would work for them, which could not only save a lot of money on expensive treatments but also prevent pain and suffering for patients.
Genome Canada is leading the research initiative, in collaboration with Cancer Stem Cell Consortium and CIHR which on Tuesday launched its Personalized Medicine Signature Initiative. CIHR is committing up to $22.5 million to the large-scale initiative with the other two partners, but it will be providing more funding for other projects under its personalized medicine program.
The research projects are aiming to bring together biomedical, clinical, population health, health economics, ethics and policy researchers to identify areas that are best suited to personalized medicine.
Oncology, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, psychiatric disorders, diabetes and obesity, arthritis, pain, and Alzheimer’s disease are all considered to be areas that hold promise for personalized medicine.
Funding will also go to projects that are aimed at developing more evidence-based and cost-effective approaches to health care.
Researchers can get up to four years of funding, but 50 per cent of their requested funding must be matched from another source, such as a provincial government or from the academic or private sectors.
Genome Canada, CIHR and the cancer consortium will invest a maximum of $5 million in each individual project.
The successful applicants for the $67.5 million worth of funding won't be announced until December.
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'Personalized medicine' gets $67.5M research boost
24-01-2012 10:25 On January 17th, 2012, the CIRM Governing Board heard from scientists and a patient about the essential role of genomics in the development of stem cell based therapies.
Rudolf Jaenisch, MD (MIT) and recently named winner of the National Medal of Science, discussed the key issues facing the field of highly pluripotent stem cells including ES cells and iPS cells. He outlined the main conditions that affect the quality of stem cells including genetics background, culture, isolation and environmental conditions, adding that subtle phenotypes may be disease relevant
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2011 Summit: Stem Cells, Reprogramming and Personalized Medicine, Rudolf Jaenisch, MD - Video
Taylor prize winner Rudolph Jaenisch lectures on stem cell research as part of the Robarts Research Institute's Taylor Symposium.
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Jaenisch: Stem cells