Taking Advantage of Genomic Medicine

The UK's National Health Service needs to form some kind of committee to evaluate the potential of diagnostic tests in order to take full advantage of advances in genomic medicine, says the Times Online's Mark Henderson. Two science think tanks at the University of Cambridge warn that "the potential of genetic testing to deliver better treatments at lower cost will be delayed unless there is a system to establish the benefits," Henderson says. Without such a system, hospitals and doctors could waste time and money on tests that have no clear benefit, and could end up ignoring older tests that would serve them better, he adds. "The Department of Health should establish an evaluation and decision-making body, as a matter of urgency, to direct research funding towards important strategic questions and ensure evidence-based implementation of both new diagnostic techniques and informatics systems within the NHS," the think tanks' report says.