Personalised medicine: report of US President’s Advisory Committee

November 10, 2008

The US President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) has released a report on personalised medicine containing recommendations on the governmental and private sector action needed in order to realise the benefits of personalised healthcare. The report, Priorities for Personalised Medicine is from a study on personalised healthcare that began in January 2007, in order to assess eight major policy areas including: technology/tools, regulation, reimbursement, information technology, intellectual property, privacy, education and economics. Although personalised healthcare can encompass a wide range of technologies such as imaging technologies as well as genomic diagnostics and therapeutics, it was decided to focus the report and its recommendations in three main areas (technology/tools, regulation and reimbursement) in relation to genomic-based molecular diagnostics, as these were felt to be the most pressing area for policy action. (PHG Foundation)