China's Thousand Talents Plan gives research grant to promising scientists and scholars. (Photo : www.en.xinfinance.com)
China has announced plans to initiate research and development (R&D) into the technology of precision medicine, or personalized therapy, which will begin when the government's 13th Five-Year Plan is implemented for the 2016-2020 period, the China Business News reported.
An expert told Shanghai's China Business News that several hospitals and medical centers have already been selected by the government for precision medicine clinical trials.
Speaking at a medical seminar in Shanghai on Oct. 28, Li Yixue, a professor at the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, said that establishing regional medical centers for precision medicine trials and applying the trial results to clinical practice is an important part of the precision medicine initiative.
Li added that the trials will need the participation of both hospitals and patients, as he added that the initiative will be closely related to smart medical systems and cutting-edge medical technology, which could generate huge economic benefits.
The professor added that the government has pledged to give strong support to spur the development of the sector.
During the country's first precision medicine conference in March, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced that it will invest 60 billion yuan ($9.45 billion) in the precision medicine project before 2030.
According to the report, experts have been exploring over the past six months the idea of using cutting-edge technology, such as cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things and mobile Internet, to precision and personalized medicine.
In 2011, the U.S. medical sector first introduced the concept of precision medicine, and in January, President Barack Obama presented a $215 million precision medicine initiative to generate genetic data on one million or more Americans, aimed at determining genetic causes of disease and to find new drugs.
The report said that the framers of the U.S. initiative raised privacy as a main issue. Hence, in July, the U.S. government issued a working draft of proposed privacy and trust principles to govern future design and development efforts for the initiative.
The report added that China will have to address similar concerns over privacy before launching its own precision medicine initiative.
