Bigpharma joined the Genomics England project
Pharmaceutical companies will help decipher the genome of British cancer patients
Marina Kruglikova, Vademecum
Ten major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have agreed to cooperate with the British state organization Genomics England in order to use the genetic information of patients of the National Health Service of Great Britain (NHS) in medical research.
This was reported on Thursday, March 26, by the Financial Times (Drugs companies unite to mine genetic data – VM).
Two major British pharmaceutical companies – GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca – will join forces with Swiss Roche and American AbbVie and Biogen to decode the genome of 100,000 patients suffering from cancer or rare diseases. The American companies Alexion, Dimension Therapeutics and Helomics, the Belgian UCB and the Japanese Takeda will also take part in the project.
As an experiment, pharmaceutical companies will work together for a year. During this time, they will have to find a possible link between genetic mutations and specific diseases. In the future, this will help in the development of more effective drugs, when prescribing which doctors will take into account the individual genetic data of the patient.
British Prime Minister David Cameron announced the launch of the 100 thousand Genomes project in 2012, at the same time he explained that 100 million euros would be allocated to the British health service for the project. By 2015, the project participants managed to decode the genome of 3 thousand patients. If by 2017 companies can achieve their goal and decode 100 thousand genomes, they will collect one of the largest databases of genetic information in the world.
All data of patients who take part in the project "100 thousand genomes" are anonymous, participation in the program is voluntary.
Earlier it was reported that the American company 23andMe, famous for DNA tests, plans to use its genome database in the independent development of drugs for various diseases.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru30.03.2015