Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle (D) has announced that several prominent medical programs in the state are launching a collaborative research effort in the form of the Wisconsin Genomics Initiative. The hope is that the research will eventually make it possible to predict who might contract a disease and what response the person might have to specific treatments, an approach known as personalized medicine. It will also focus on preventing or more effectively managing chronic conditions.
Though the initiative is hoping for state and federal funding, the foundation is already in place and doesn't need any additional funding to get started. It is relying in large part on the Marshfield Clinic's Personalized Medicine Research Project, which already has collected DNA samples from 20,000 volunteers. Marshfield also has a databank that contains almost 30 years of medical histories, electronically stored.
To learn more about the project:
-read this Modern Healthcare piece [1] (reg. req.)
Related Article:
Personalized cancer treatment on the rise, cutting drug spend [2]
Links:
[1] http://www.modernhealthcare.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081010/REG/310109970&nocache=1
[2] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/personalized-cancer-treatment-on-the-rise-cutting-drug-spend/2008-06-03