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The genomic revolution has paved the way for the practice of medicine to be personalised, predictive, preventive and participatory. The concept of Precision Medicine approach uses the genetic information for more effective disease prevention and treatment strategies. Many countries have embarked on this initiative. Malaysia too has embarked on a few genome sequencing studies, starting at small scale and numbers.
In view of this revolution in healthcare, Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) has formed a Task Force on The Precision Medicine Initiative for Malaysia to discuss its feasibility for our country. Chaired by Professor Datuk Dr A Rahman A Jamal FASc, the Task Force aims to:
- generate evidence of precision medicine’s effectiveness
- integrate precision medicine approach into clinical practice
- identify new approaches to regulation, pricing and reimbursement for diagnostics and treatment
- conduct patient and public engagement
ASM will then provide strategic recommendations to the Government in the form of a Position Paper.
DEFINITION OF PRECISION MEDICINE
“Precision Medicine is an approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person.”
(National Institute of Health, US 2015).
“Precision medicine is the principle of tailoring medical treatment to the individual characteristics of each patient to classify individuals into subpopulations that differ in their susceptibility to a particular disease or their response to a specific treatment, allowing preventative or therapeutic interventions to be concentrated on those who will benefit, sparing expense and side effects for those who will not.”
(National Research Institute, US 2011)
Check out snippets from All of Us Research Program Youtube videos as below:
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT WORKSHOP: IS PRECISION MEDICINE OUR FUTURE?
ASM has successfully organised an engagement workshop with the stakeholders within the field of medicine, especially precision medicine, to validate some of our views and to gather further insights for a comprehensive Position Paper that will be provided to the Government.
The full-day workshop was held at the Malaysian Space Agency (MySA), on 28th November 2019. About 100 participants ranging from researchers, doctors, lawyers to representatives from private labs and religious bodies were present.
The workshop was divided into two sessions; a panel session in the morning and a break-out discussion in the afternoon. Participants were divided into five focus groups during the break-out session to discuss topics on Ethics, Legal, and Social Issues (ELSI), Research and Capacity Building, Clinical Translation, Health Economics, as well as Governance and Data.
QUICK LINKS
SURVEY
These surveys are intended to include information on precision medicine related research at institutional level. The collection and aggregation of existing data and sources will then be used to establish an inventory, which will lead to a more concerted effort at the National level. We trust this survey will be of significant value for all relevant stakeholders and participants.
There are two surveys:
ASM is pleased to invite you and relevant experts from your institution to participate in these surveys. We anticipate each survey will take about 5 to 10 minutes of your time. We encourage you to answer BOTH surveys, however, should you belong to either one category, kindly answer ONE survey only.
GENERAL FEEDBACK
We appreciate feedbacks, comments and enquiries from all.
DOWNLOADS
- Public Engagement Workshop Programme Book
- Welcome Remark_Prof Datuk Dr Asma
- Keynote_Dr Fazilah
- Scene Setting_Prof Datuk Dr Rahman
- Panel_Lab Accreditation_Prof Datuk Dr Looi
- Panel_Health Economics_Prof Dr Sharifa
- Panel_Medical Law_Prof Datuk Dr Aishah
- Panel_Practitioner’s Challenges_Dr Azrif
- Panel_Patient’s Challenges_Siti Safura