Genesis One Nucleus 2014: personalized medicine and big data

In the opening sessions at the Genesis One Nucleus 2014 conference in London yesterday, the main themes and areas of interest were outlined as personalized medicine economics and big data health innovation. In his introduction Eddie Blair, managing director of diagnostics specialists Integrated Medicines, focused on the opportunities afforded by increased demand for health care from aging and emerging market populations - and in some cases both.

The economics of personalized medicine

Adrian Towse, from the Office of Health Economics, highlighted the importance of personalized medicine in reducing and avoiding adverse reactions and delay in selecting the optimal treatment, increasing patient adherence and granting access to treatment with a small proportion of responders. The problem is that there needs to be incentives, he said, to create a greater willingness for payers to accept that prices reflect value in drugs and diagnostics. Drug and test developers, in turn, need to demonstrate their willingness to generate evidence to demonstrate that price provides value. This would create more realistic expectations all-round based on standard of evidence. In discussing greater price flexibility on drugs, he referenced Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE: JNJ) patient access scheme and Italy’s oncology drug scheme.