What Personalized Medicine really needs – Francis Collins

  After describing himself as an “unemployed geneticist”, Francis Collins now reveals that he has been “working night and day” with the White House transition for health and human services with Tom Daschle.  Now that that’s over, he is ready to discuss the progress that personalized medicine needs for it to move forward in a responsible way.

Francis Collins, the public face of the human genome research and former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, spoke to biomedical researchers, biotech execs and policy people at a meeting in Washington DC organized by the Personalized Medicine Coalition.

"If we’re serious about preventive medicine, and using personalized genomics to inform that, we’re not going to change the genome," he said. "It’s the environment we’re going to want to change."

And I wholeheartedly agree! Whether we know about our specific risks to certain diseases (which is the useful information out of personalized medicine) or we are unaware of such risks, nothing beats having a healthier lifestyle at preventing unwanted health problems.

Collins also addressed the lack of oversight surrounding direct-to-consumer genetic testing services. He suggests the creation of a public database where consumers can find out about these tests objectively – how useful the tests are, how valid their results, and how responsible are the companies that provide for them.

Francis Collins also commented on the much talked-about drugs Abacavir and Wafarin. Read the rest of the story here – Francis Collins Addresses State of Personalized Medicine.

Image: Newscom