Scottish Government set aside £4.2 million for precision medicine

Nicola Sturgeon is to outline plans that will make Scotland a “world leader” in precision medicine.

The plans will be backed by funding of £4.2 million and the First Minister will address the Precision Medicine Summit in Perth on Monday.

The gathering will bring together representatives from industry, the NHS, government and academia to discuss how Scotland can capitalise on its strengths in the field.

Precision medicine is the tailoring of medical treatment to the individual characteristics of each patient.

Ms Sturgeon is expected to say: “Precision medicine has huge potential for transforming the way illnesses are treated, promising a revolution in healthcare - and Scotland has the potential to be a world leader in the field.”

The investment of £4.2 million over the next three years will be targeted in a number of different ways, she will tell delegates.

The First Minister will say: “It will be used to enable Scotland to continue to participate in the 100,000 Genomes Programme and to collaborate with Genomics England.

“And it will ensure that Scottish patients, by having their genomes sequenced, can continue to receive more accurate and precise diagnoses.

“We'll also invest in the workforce that Scotland will need for all of this.

“As part of that, we will fund the creation of training schemes and new resources for staff - within our clinical and laboratory services, and our NHS.

“Finally, we will ensure Scotland has a central facility for storing genomic data which will allow for more efficient sharing and analysis of data for clinical diagnoses and valuable future research.

"That will be good for patients, as we come up with better treatments. And it will of course have economic benefits, if those treatments have application around the world."