Personalised healthcare and genomics: Intestinal cancer as a model
Genomics-based Convergence of Food and Health Care: Changing Governance Arrangements
The final step in determining the complete human DNA sequence and the attendant genomics revolution both hold great promise of advances in the field of personalised healthcare, not only in terms of prevention, but also the actual treatment of diseases (custom-made drugs). Might it therefore be possible to compile a personalised diet based on a person’s DNA, which also has a preventive effect? And are the rapid developments taking place also making the dividing line between food and medicines increasingly vague?
This project was designed to establish whether genomics has actually lived up to the expectations, and what one might expect in terms of future scenarios. The researchers adopted intestinal cancer as a case study. It was chosen due to the fact that a relatively large amount of research has been carried out into the disease, but also because it is multifactorial. The researchers held interviews and workshops with parties involved – scientists, medical practitioners, epidemiologists and future product developers – with a view to addressing the aforementioned questions.
What transpired is that genomics has hardly got through to consumers and product developers at all, and that there are currently no genomics-based therapies for intestinal cancer available on the market. Scientists appear to be the only ones making use of genomics. And although this has revealed greater knowledge relating to the occurrence of intestinal cancer, it has failed to yield much in the way of efficacious drugs or preventive lifestyle recommendations. Furthermore, according to the researchers, the hypes surrounding genomics have left associated areas of knowledge such as prevention and epidemiology underexplored and underfunded. Although the researchers’ final report is critical of policymakers, it does contain further recommendations and guidelines for the future.
Duration project: October 2006 - December 2008