Richard Rosenquist Brandell presented the Swedish experience of implementing precision medicine at EU health ministers’ meeting
As part of the Swedish presidency of the EU's Council of Ministers, the health ministers of EU countries were invited to an informal meeting in Stockholm on the 4th and 5th of May. The meting concerned issues of preparedness and securing access to innovative and established medicines.
Richard Rosenquist Brandell, Senior Physician, Professor of Clinical Genetics at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet and director of the national initiative Genomic Medicine Sweden, GMS was invited to present the Swedish strategies of implementing precision medicine in healthcare.
The Minister for Health Care, Acko Ankarberg Johansson hosted the meeting, which was primarily aimed at the ministers responsible for health and medical issues in the EU member states.
Precision medicine is a paradigm shift with great potential for the future
During the afternoon's plenary session, which focused on equal access to innovative and established medicines regardless of member state, Richard Rosenquist Brandell presented Sweden's experiences in implementing precision medicine in healthcare. He pointed out the work that GMS has done, together with SciLifeLab, to develop and introduce whole genome sequencing and gene panels into Swedish healthcare.
In his talk, Richard Rosenquist Brandell gave examples of how whole genome sequencing is used in healthcare both for diagnostics of patients with rare diagnoses and in an unique pilot project in childhood cancer where all children in Sweden who get cancer are offered whole-genome sequencing as part of the diagnostics to enable tailored treatment.
“The key to success is the importance of co-operation with all actors, both locally, regionally, nationally and internationally”, says Richard Rosenquist Brandell. “An important aspect for the successful implementation of precision medicine is the ability to share data. Here, GMS has established the National Genomics Platform (NGP), which in the future will also enable data sharing internationally”, he continues.
Further KI participation in the meeting
The same day, also Johan von Schreeb, Professor of Disaster Medicine at Karolinska Institutet and director of both the Centre for Health Crises and the Centre for Research on Health Care in Disasters, was invited to speak at the meeeting; Johan von Schreeb busts myths at EU health ministers’ meeting.