GenomeQuest™, Westborough, Mass, and Cambridge Healthtech Associates™, Needham, Mass, have reported on their health care industry calibration study on genomic interpretation titled “I-Study: i-study logoGenomic Interpretation™ – Who will pay, what is needed and how to mobilize? A Landmark Study in Genomic Interpretation to Identify How to Break Through to a Future of Across-the-Board Personalized Medicine.”

The study surveyed more than 55 industry leaders across 12 health care segments.

Interview transcripts were reviewed by a panel of experts representing all disciplines key to incorporating genomic interpretation into patient care, according to the company, notng the panel has developed a comprehensive set of findings (common challenges faced across the industry) and recommendations (proposed solutions or action plans).

“At the 2011 Personalized Medicine Conference held November 9 to 10 at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass, 80% of attendees voted interpretation as the top strategic challenge in genomic sequencing. Advancing day-to-day genomic interpretation across the complex $5 trillion health care industry will require close collaboration – a network effect in genomics,” says Tony Flynn, chief marketing officer, GenomeQuest and I-Study codirector. “We developed the I-Study to determine how well we are all calibrated in our related plans and efforts, identify areas of alignment or misalignment, and offer recommendations to improve collaboration and accelerate the application of genomics in health care.”

Click here to download a report on the I-Study findings and recommendations.

Participants were scientific, medical, and business leaders across the following sectors: pharmaceuticals, contract research organizations (CROs), academic labs, commercial labs, diagnostic companies, decision support (software) suppliers, health care providers, sequencing providers, health care equipment makers, care management, healthcare IT, and payers.

“Advancing genomic interpretation is fundamental to delivering the promise of personalized medicine and requires the collaboration of stakeholders among government, academe and the private sector,” says Raju Kucherlapati, PhD, chair of the personalized medicine conference, and Paul C. Cabot, professor of genetics, professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School. “It was a pleasure to participate in the I-Study from inception through the review panel. It’s surely a significant body of work that engaged a broad array of leaders and identified key opportunities for harmonizing our efforts and hastening our advance.”

Panel members and their area of expertise included:

  • Scientific: Kevin Davies, PhD, editor, Bio-IT World; author, The $1,000 Genome
  • Medical: Raju Kucherlapati, PhD, Harvard Medical School
  • IT and content: Richard Resnick, CEO, GenomeQuest
  • Business model: Dawn Van Dam, general manager, Cambridge Healthtech Associates
  • Financial: Brian Atwood, managing director, co-founder, Versant Ventures
  • Payer: John Edwards, director, health economic studies, PricewaterhouseCoopers

The study revealed three major calibration themes in advancing genomics into health care:

  • Settling the Question: Who Will Pay?
  • Maturing the Required Technologies
  • Mobilizing the Ecosystem to Deliver Personalized Medicine

The Personalized Medicine Coalition supported this effort.

Continuing the Conversation: I-Study Think Tank Discussion Series
To further this effort, a series of I-Study ‘Think Tanks’  is being developed to help drive the I-Study recommendations, says Dawn Van Dam, general manager, Cambridge Healthtech Associates, and I-Study co-director.

The I-Study Think Tank series will begin in March with the topic “Weaving the Genome into Integrated Care and the EHR.” Click here to learn more about the series and register.

[Source: GenomeQuest]