Archive for the ‘Personalized Medicine’ Category

Attendees Share What Makes CGC Unique and a Must-Attend Event
Attendees from the 2012 Consumer Genetics Conference describe what they like most about this event and why they attend year after year. CGC covers the key issues facing consumer genomics, personalized medicine, advances in sequencing molecular diagnostics, customer-targeted DNA applications, and investment/funding opportunities. It provides a unique outlet where all voices can be heard: pro con, physician consumer, research clinical, academic corporate, financial regulatory. consumergeneticsconference.comFrom:CambridgeHealthtechViews:41 0ratingsTime:03:52More inScience Technology

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CytoComp a revolutionary biological computer
Synthetic Biology (engineering with biological parts) will become a defining science for the 21st century. One very interesting development is cellular computers The recent scientific developments in cellular computing are mind blowing, and will revolutionize the way we will do personalized medicine. Cellular computers are real game changers. Many people (eg diabetics), need to monitor biological functions (eg their glucose levels). It would be great if one could do this in an easy automated way. Moreover, it would be great to automatically regulate these values (eg via insulin) The cellular computer CytoComp is a revolutionary, tiny medical device in the micrometer scale, that let you monitor your biomedical data via a mobile app, and which can self-regulate these functions (eg you avoid to painfully measure your glucose levels; moreover it will self-regulate glucose by insulin production, if needed). Unlike traditional large external devices, CytoComp, which will fundamentally change how we do personalized medicine. CytoComp is tiny (implantable) , self-regulating and thus does not need any action from the user (a diabetic will never again need to care about the glucose level). Copyright CytoComp 2012From:LeukipposInstituteViews:159 5ratingsTime:02:08More inScience Technology

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Panel Discussion: Connectedness and Implications for Personalized Medicine
Moderator: Paul Reeder; Director, Ideation Lab, Office of Technology Commercialization Knowledge Transfer, The Ohio State UniversityFrom:osumedicalcenterViews:2 0ratingsTime:22:04More inScience Technology

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Panel Discussion: Connectedness and Implications for Personalized Medicine - Video

Responsibility of Patients in Personalized Medicine Era, Insung Na at USF
My name is Insung Na. I am a master program student at college of medicine of University of South Florida in USA. I explained the responsibility of patients in personalized medicine era. It was recorded and uploaded to submit my opinion toward TEDxUSF. In current system, severe lethal patients only lean on determination of medical doctors, even though, there are many possible approaches toward the disease in aspect of personalized medicine. Also, it is a problem that it takes too long time to wait novel medicine due to the regulatory system of FDA. However, I think it is possible that each patient determines the procedure of regulatory system for his or her own medication by help of genome consultants, medical doctors, and biomedical scientists. If we can do that, the time effectiveness and survival rate for a patient will be increased.From: #51064; #49457; #45208;Views:77 1ratingsTime:03:35More inScience Technology

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The Future of Medicine: Ben Kompa at TEDxYouth@Columbus
Ben is a senior at Upper Arlington High School, but spends his days taking classes at THE Ohio State University. In addition to playing Bridge, throwing discus, and hanging out with friends, he works in the Sadee Lab of Pharmacogenomics at OSU. There, he was introduced to the possibilities of gene sequencing and personalized medicine, and began conceiving of a world where everyone had individually tailored treatments. In the future, Ben hopes to pursue a degree in biochemistry and continue to conduct research at the crossroads of medicine and public policy In thespirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)From:TEDxYouthViews:374 12ratingsTime:08:54More inScience Technology

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Timothy J. Triche, MD PhD DBRM Retreat 2012 Genomics and Stem Cell Research
Non Coding RNA Functional RNA Transcripts in Cancer and Development Professor of Pathology, Cancer Biology, Pediatrics Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California Director, Center for Personalized Medicine at Children #39;s Hospital Los AngelesFrom:Clarence WigfallViews:6 0ratingsTime:17:49More inScience Technology

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Timothy J. Triche, MD PhD DBRM Retreat 2012 Genomics and Stem Cell Research - Video

Bioscience Connecticut Brings Promise to Future of Medicine
Dr. Frank M. Torti, executive vice president for health affairs and medical school dean, joins "The Hour with Jim Pellegrino" to discuss Bioscience Connecticut and the future of personalized medicine. Aired on multiple community access channels, mid-October, 2012. For more about Bioscience Connecticut: biosciencect.uchc.eduFrom:uconnhealthViews:111 0ratingsTime:24:17More inNonprofits Activism

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IBA - A personalized medicine odyssey
IBA (Ion Beam Applications SA), is a cancer diagnostics and treatment company and the worldwidetechnology leader in the field of proton therapy. The company #39;s expertise lies in the development of nextgeneration proton therapy technologies and radiopharmaceuticals that provide oncology care providers with premium quality services and equipment, including IBA #39;s leading fully-integrated IntegraLab system. Headquartered in Belgium and employing more than 1200 people worldwide, IBA currently has installed systems across Europe and the US and is expanding into emerging markets. The Company is focused on building sustainable global growth for investors and provides high quality services and products for oncology specialists and cancer patients.From:ibagroupViews:103 1ratingsTime:03:43More inScience Technology

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IBA - A personalized medicine odyssey - Video

CytoComp - Technology Entrepreneurship Commercial Venture Lab 2012
This is an assignment for the Stanford online class by Professor Chuck Eesley, 2012. "In entrepreneurship, it is very difficult to tell a bad idea from a potentially very good idea. The differences are quite subtle or even non-existent and it #39;s often much more about the team and what they do with the idea. A creative, hardworking team can turn a bad idea into something with a lot of potential. Some go so far as to say that there are no bad ideas. Creativity is a constant resource that your team has that can be applied during the startup process to improve on business models and generate new even better ideas. You will browse and choose one of the "worst" ideas from another team. You should do this assignment with the "organic" team that you have assembled yourselves. Your task is to turn that "worst" idea into something promising. You are to make a short 2-3 minute "commercial" for this startup idea, advertising the product or service and making it sound good. The audience is potential customers. This is a quick assignment and you only have 5 days, so don #39;t worry about it being perfect." Synthetic Biology (engineering with biological parts) will become a defining science for the 21st century. One very interesting development is cellular computers The recent scientific developments in cellular computing are mind blowing, and will revolutionize the way we will do personalized medicine. Cellular computers are real game changers. Many people (eg diabetics), need to monitor ...From:LeukipposInstituteViews:134 7ratingsTime:03:12More inScience Technology

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CytoComp - Technology Entrepreneurship Commercial Venture Lab 2012 - Video

23- Pharmaceutical BiotechnologySG Part IIb. Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine.mov
Encoded in the DNA sequence of our individual genome is the genetic program to build, maintain, and adapt all our tissues and their functions. Each human genome contains 200000 coding elements (exons) and millions of regulatory elements defining complex signaling and regulatory networks. Pharmacogenomics is the study of how an individual #39;s genetic inheritance affects the body #39;s response to drugs. Personalized Medicine offers treatments and diagnostics for the future based on a patients #39; DNA sequence. Sequencing and analysis of the human genome #39;s six billion base pairs is now rapid and affordable. studies on drug metabolism can now be based on individual genomics.From:Albert KauschViews:1 0ratingsTime:01:12:31More inEducation

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23- Pharmaceutical BiotechnologySG Part IIb. Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine.mov - Video

Personalized Medicine from a Health Systems Perspective
Eric Faulkner, MPH, will serve as moderator for a panel discussion on personalized medicine from a health systems perspective. The panel will explore approaches to developing evidence to address the needs of the varied stakeholders.From:QuintilesMediaViews:5 0ratingsTime:06:23More inScience Technology

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Personalized Medicine from a Health Systems Perspective - Video

HACKING YOUR DNA - BIOWEAPONS OF THE FUTURE
*PLEASE READ DESCRIPTION* FAIR USE ethnic bioweapon (biogenetic weapon) race specific bio-weapons The US government is surreptitiously collecting the DNA of world leaders, and is reportedly protecting that of Barack Obama. Decoded, these genetic blueprints could provide compromising information. In the not-too-distant future, they may provide something more as well mdash;the basis for the creation of personalized bioweapons that could take down a president and leave no trace. EXCERPT FROM A VERY LARGE ARTICLE: NOVEMBER 2012 ATLANTIC MAGAZINE To be sure, around the turn of the millennium, significant fanfare surrounded personalized medicine, especially in the field of genetics. A lot of that is now gone. The prevailing wisdom is that the tech has not lived up to the talk, but this isn #39;t surprising. Gartner, an information-technology research-and-advisory firm, has coined the term hype cycle to describe exactly this sort of phenomenon: a new technology is introduced with enthusiasm, only to be followed by an emotional low when it fails to immediately deliver on its promise. But Gartner also discovered that the cycle doesn #39;t typically end in what the firm calls "the trough of disillusionment." Rising from those ashes is a "slope of enlightenment" mdash;meaning that when viewed from a longer-term historical perspective, the majority of these much-hyped groundbreaking developments do, eventually, break plenty of new ground. As George Church, a geneticist at Harvard, explains, this is what ...From:CreativeMessageViews:8 0ratingsTime:12:45More inEducation

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HACKING YOUR DNA - BIOWEAPONS OF THE FUTURE - Video

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 18, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Genomind, a personalized medicine company for neuropsychiatry, is excited to announce its new clinician online portal at the Neuroscience Education Institute (NEI) Global Psychopharmacology Congress in San Diego. Genomind will host a Product Theater at the Congress on Saturday, October 20, 2012 at 7 am, where co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Jay Lombard will discuss the Company's Genecept Assay, introduce attendees to the new system, and showcase the convenient features for clinicians.

The portal is a secure, convenient way for clinicians to easily access their patients' test results from the Genecept Assay. The Assay is Genomind's comprehensive, saliva-based test, which looks at genes and biomarkers that may affect the type of medication or treatment a clinician would prescribe to patients suffering from difficult-to-treat psychiatric disorders. The secure site allows clinicians to review and download comprehensive reports via login credentials any time or place, giving flexibility to their busy schedules. All results will be available electronically and can be downloaded directly from the portal. The portal also allows easy access to peer-reviewed study data related to genes in the panel.

The portal is also the home of Genomind's innovative Open Label Study, which measures the real world use and impact of the Genecept Assay on patient treatment and outcomes. The study has a unique design to enable timely, efficient reporting online for clinicians and patients.

The portal will be accessible on the Genomind website homepage or via email alerts sent to clinicians once their patients test results are live and available.

The Neuroscience Education Institute Annual Conference runs from October 18-21, 2012, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. In addition to the Product Theater, Genomind will be available on the main show floor at Booth 115 to share more information about the portal, the Genecept Assay, and their dedication to harnessing the latest research to better treat patients.

About the Genecept(TM) Assay

The Genecept Assay is a comprehensive, simple-to-use tool for understanding genetic and biological markers that best inform response to different psychiatric treatments. The Assay is Genomind's core product, and contains a proprietary panel of biomarker tests, an analytic report, and a psychopharmacologist consultation. The Assay can be used for a range of psychiatric conditions including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, OCD and ADHD. For more information on the Assay, including information about the specific genes in the panel, please visit http://www.genomind.com/products/assay.

About Genomind

Genomind is a personalized medicine company, comprised of innovative researchers and expert leaders in psychiatry and neurology. Genomind is committed to discovery of the underlying causes of neuropsychiatric disorders and supports the development of personalized medicine that improves patients' lives. Genomind was founded by Ronald I. Dozoretz, MD, a psychiatrist who has devoted his career to improving mental health. Jay Lombard, DO, a neurologist and co-founder of Genomind, is a critically acclaimed author and nationally recognized thought leader in neuropsychiatry practice and research. Learn more at http://www.genomind.com.

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Genomind Announces New Portal at NEI Global Psychopharmacology Congress

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

PGXL Laboratories and Essential Molecular Testing Corporation have formed a long term distribution partnership. The joint-venture, PGXL Partners, gives the pharmacogenetics laboratory experienced sales professionals to retail its drug sensitivity testing.

This partnership gives PGXL national distribution, says Dr. Roland Valdes, Jr., President of PGXL. Weve jumped from selling hundreds of tests a month to thousands. Weve spent seven years building the scientific and technological infrastructure to handle the explosive growth we believed was coming. Better than anyone else, we know what physicians need to use Personalized Medicine to help their patients.

Scott Goodman, president of Essential Molecular, has helped build four previous medical technology start-up companies to standard-of-care adoption. He believes Pharmacogenetics is going to revolutionize medical care.

I learned early-on it always needs to be about the patient, Goodman says. When looking at start-up technologies the driving force always has to be improved quality of care. Then I evaluate the business side. PGXL has both. The genetic information they provide improves patients lives and presents an enormous business opportunity.

Pharmacogenetic testing is one of the building blocks of Personalized Medicine. Properly interpreted, genetic information helps doctors identify precisely the right drug and dosage to reach an optimal therapeutic outcome. The practice has particular impact on the treatment of depression, cardio-vascular diseases, cancer, and chronic pain.

A recent study by The Mayo Clinic and the prescription management company Medco concluded that healthcare systems could cut the rate of hospitalization of certain patients by a third. Looking just at patients taking warfarin, a commonly prescribed anticoagulant associated with bleeding risk, the study found strong evidence that incorporating genetic information into diagnosis and treatment substantially improved patient care, and that the differencescannot be attributed to factors other than the genotyping intervention.

This is the kind of impact PGXLs tests can have, says Valdes. And the benefit goes well beyond cost. The human impact of precision medicine, of eliminating trial and error from the dosing of drugs, is enormous.

The partnership between PGXL and Essential Molecular began to take shape in May. All representatives are put through extensive training in pharmacogenetics and its applicability to the different medical specialties.

One of our physicians recently told us the pharmacogenetic test he ordered saved the life of one of his patients, says Goodman. If that doesnt motivate you, nothing will.

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Personalized Medicine Pioneer PGXL Laboratories Announces National Distribution Partnership

NEW YORK, Oct. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 28, 2012, Mediaplanet released its first edition of "Personalized Health and Medicine" in USA Today, a 16-page publication. In this issue, Mediaplanet introduces its readers to technologies, such as ePathology, that are vital in the delivery of personalized medicine and improved patient care.

The importance of ePathology for both healthcare organizations and patients

Traditional pathology practice involves a pathologist reviewing a glass slide under a microscope to identify disease. Mistakes made today are headline news like the story of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who was told she had thyroid cancer. Her thyroid gland was surgically removed. It was revealed afterward that she never had cancerous cells. Or take the case of a Los Angeles resident whose pathology case was identified as breast cancer. She underwent a double mastectomy and reconstruction only to later learn she never had cancer. The public is well aware of these errors and wants to select providers that they can trust. In this age of digital processes, it is important for pathology to make this leap forward.

The potential of ePathology continues to evolve; with increasing sub-specialization of pathologists, many organizations want to enable the best-trained physician to review the results. Unlike glass slides that need to be packed and shipped from one location to another, eSlides can be shared with a speed and certainty that was inconceivable a generation ago. Furthermore, ePathology can improve transparency and thus advance quality assurance, and by facilitating the use of companion diagnostics, ePathology can also enable the selection of the most effective therapy. Most importantly, ePathology is bringing the healthcare team closer to the patient.

Many organizations are beginning to consider the importance of ePathology, taking digital images, eSlides, into clinical use, so that they can integrate this expertise to deliver better patient care.

About Aperio

For over a decade, Aperio has advanced the technology that enables glass slides to be digitized and securely shared with others. Aperio ePathology Solutions are transforming the practice of pathology in hospitals, reference labs, and pharmaceutical and research institutions around the world. Aperio products are FDA cleared for specific clinical applications, and are intended for research and educational use for other applications. They are not approved by the FDA for primary diagnosis. For clearance updates, specific product indications, and more information, please visit http://www.aperio.com.

About Mediaplanet

Mediaplanet publishes focused reports on specific business, healthcare, technology or consumer topics.

To view the full publication and to find out more about ePathology: click here.

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Mediaplanet and Aperio partner to educate Americans about Personalized Health and Medicine

By Chris Wood, Casey Research

Today, personalized medicine seeks to move away from the one-size-fits-all, trial-and-error approach that has defined drug R&D and patient treatment basically since the time of Galen of Pergamon in the 2nd century AD. It increasingly focuses on matching the biological characteristics of each person with the best treatment options available and dosing for them, and in the future even perhaps the development of specific drugs for specific patients.

Truth be told, the idea of personalized medicine is nothing new. Back in the late 1800s, Canadian physician Sir William Osler (who was one of the founding professors at Johns Hopkins Hospital and has been called the "father of modern medicine") said, "Variability is the law of life, and as no two faces are the same, no two bodies are alike, and no two individuals react alike, and behave alike under the abnormal conditions which we know as disease."

Pathologists also often cite George Merck, who was talking about developing pharmaceutical agents directed toward individual patients rather than to groups of patients some sixty years ago, at the dawn of the era of personalized medicine.

Even though the idea has been around for some time, personalized medicine as a practice is quite new. Even just twenty years ago, virtually all drugs being developed attempted to target the entire population of a disease group rather than a subset or segment of it.

But all that is changing. Now, the development of drugs that are specifically linked to diagnostic tests that indicate a subgroup of patients is more likely to respond to treatment is often the goal for a variety of different diseases... particularly cancer.

Biomarkers are the key to this changing landscape in drug development and patient care. Biomarkers have the ability to help drug companies and physicians shrink costs, predict and minimize risk, avoid late-stage attrition, and make better, more informed decisions throughout the process. And they are poised to be the major driver of pharmaceutical research and drug development in the 21st century.

Originally, the term "biomarker" just referred to simple physiological indicators such as body temperature, blood pressure, or heart rate that signaled an imbalance in the body or evidence of disease.

Today, many different types of biomarkers have been identified by scientists. They still include things that are simple to measure and correlate, such as high blood pressure as an indicator for increased risk of stroke. But they also include more complex genetic changes or mutations that can, for instance, help identify a patient's risk for particular type of cancer. For example, mutations in the so-called BRCA genes are known to increase a woman's risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer.

Renowned oncology expert Dr. Jeffrey Ross defines a biomarker as "a series of gene sequences and mutations, messenger RNA expression profiles, tissue proteins, and blood based tests that can be used to detect the predisposition for disease, screen for its presence, confirm its diagnosis, assess its severity, predict its response to available therapies, and monitor its clinical course."

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The Age of Personalized Medicine Is Near

General Manager, Nancy Grden to speak on cutting edge technology.

Chalfont, PA (PRWEB) October 17, 2012

The session titled Genetics, Neurotech & Personalized Medicine: Using Emerging Science to Improve Treatment of Cognitive Disorders, will discuss the advancements in personalized medicine and how this changing facet of the health care industry will affect how patients and medical professionals approach diagnosis and treatment in the future. Grden will share the recent success Genomind has made with the companys Genecept Assay, which analyzes patient saliva for biomarkers and genes that may have impact on treatments for psychiatric disorders. She will also weigh in on the implications of such advancements on service providers, and future breakthroughs that may be on the horizon. The session will take place at 9:30 am.

Grden is an experienced executive in numerous industries, and was instrumental in Genominds formation and launch. As general manager she is responsible for all aspects of Genominds development, commercialization, and future strategy.

OPEN MINDS Technology & Informatics Institute (ww.openminds.com/tii) will run October 17-18 at the Baltimore Convention Center. It is the only event of its kind that focuses on the latest advancements in technology and informatics for the health care field and how they will impact the public.

About Genomind

Genomind is a personalized medicine company, comprised of innovative researchers and expert leaders in psychiatry and neurology. Genomind is committed to discovery of the underlying causes of neuropsychiatric disorders and supports the development of personalized medicine that improves patients lives. Genomind was founded by Ronald I. Dozoretz, MD, a psychiatrist who has devoted his career to improving mental health. Jay Lombard, DO, a neurologist and co-founder of Genomind, is a critically acclaimed author and nationally recognized thought leader in neuropsychiatry practice and research. Learn more at http://www.genomind.com.

About the Genecept Assay

The Genecept Assay is a comprehensive, simple-to-use tool for understanding genetic and biological markers that best inform response to different psychiatric treatments. The Assay is Genominds core product, and contains a proprietary panel of biomarker tests, an analytic report, and a psychopharmacologist consultation. The Assay can be used for a range of psychiatric conditions including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, OCD and ADHD. For more information on the Assay, including information about the specific genes in the panel, please visit http://www.genomind.com/products/assay.

Doreen Korba Genomind, LLC 215.396.5596 Email Information

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Genomind Executive to Speak at Open Minds Technology & Informatics Institute

VILLEJUIF, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Worldwide Innovative Network (WIN) in personalized cancer medicine consortium proudly announces that Oracle Health Sciences has become a member of the consortium. Oracle will provide access to its data management, clinical trials, genomics and analytics expertise to help WIN advance its mission of increasing the efficacy of cancer care globally through personalized therapy and early diagnostics.

The development of personalized therapies requires new collaborations between industry, healthcare and academia. This includes the ability to access and build upon the collective knowledge and data of the entire cancer community, including clinical, genomic and patient data leveraging modern information technologies.

Oracle Health Sciences has developed a portfolio of integrated, cloud-based software applications that help advance personalized medicine by enabling new collaboration models between research institutions and healthcare organizations. Specific to the work of the consortium, the Oracle Health Sciences Network accelerates translational research, healthcare analytics, and health information exchange by allowing these organizations to more efficiently share and analyze de-identified data across organizational boundaries.

To advance personalized cancer care, collaboration among the health sciences community is absolutely essential, but achieving it, from a technology perspective, has presented challenges. Oracle is helping organizations to break down these barriers and lay a foundation for expanded collaboration and new insight. We welcome Oracles knowledge and innovation as it joins our ranks, said Dr. John Mendelsohn, Chairman of WIN Consortium and past President, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Our overarching goals are to achieve groundbreaking personalized cancer medicine discoveries and to significantly improve the outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients, said Professor Alexander Eggermont, General Director, Institut Gustave Roussy and Vice-Chairman of WIN Consortium. With the dropping cost of whole genome sequencing, technology is essential to helping us analyze this rich data and achieve our goals. We welcome Oracle, one of the worlds leading innovators in this field, to our organization, and look forward to its many contributions.

Oracle is extremely proud to join the WIN Consortium and contribute to this important initiative, said Neil de Crescenzo, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Oracle Health Sciences. Our health sciences solutions, which support greater collaboration across the healthcare and life sciences community and help to fuel insight, complement WINs unique approach. We look forward to applying our solutions and expertise to advance its mission.

The productive and positive power of partnerships to drive progress in medical science cannot be underestimated and must be encouraged. It is in this spirit that I enthusiastically joined the Prix Galien USA Committee, said Professor Paul A. Marks,M.D., Laboratory Head of Cell Biology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New-York, President, Emeritus, MSKCC. By joining WIN and sharing its genetic and analytics expertise with the community, Oracle can make a powerful contribution to the WIN consortiums mission of advancing personalized cancer care.

WIN Consortium is a network of 24 academic institutions and industries across the globe, initiated by Cancer Institute Gustave Roussy (IGR), France, and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), USA, focusing on biomarker-driven therapeutic clinical trials conducted worldwide.

Trademarks

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WIN Consortium and Oracle Join Forces to Accelerate Personalized Cancer Care

Public release date: 15-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Michael Turton turtonm@thehastingscenter.org 845-424-4040 x242 The Hastings Center

(Garrison, NY) Personalized genomic medicine is hailed as a revolution that will empower patients to take control of their own health care, but it could end up taking control away from patients and limiting their treatment choices, concludes an article in the Hastings Center Report. A commentary responding to the article, by the editorial director of Health and Family at Consumer Reports, also appears in the journal.

Genomic science provides two categories of data, the authors write: pharmacogenomic information and genomic susceptibility information. Pharmacogenomic information forecasts how an individual might respond to a particular therapy. Genomic susceptibility testing predicts a patient's chances of warding off or succumbing to an environmental threat or disease.

Genomic medicine's stakeholders including direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies, private research centers, and the National Institutes of Health are deeply invested in promoting how this information will benefit patients. The authors call this "empowerment rhetoric." And yet the added knowledge that comes from both pharmacogenomic information and genomic susceptibility information could have a negative impact on how much power a patient really has.

The results gleaned from pharmacogenomic information could pressure patients to comply with physicians' recommendations, the authors suggest, because molecular profiling would allow doctors to give orders with more authority. "In fact, because genomic medicine generates more risk information and makes that information the key lens for approaching health and disease, patients may actually find that they have less ability to influence health care decisions and treatments," the authors state.

The virtues of genomic susceptibility information could also go awry. First, because disease prevention relies heavily on lifestyle changes, responsibility is shifted from doctor to patient. Patients who don't make the "right" choices could be deemed irresponsible, the article says. Second, genomic information can for the time being only reveal the health risks of groups of people. Rather than provide individualized assessments, it classifies people into "genetic superfamilies." The authors argue that "population classification schemes based on racial and ethnic categories can be actively disempowering for individuals, by encouraging potentially prejudicial associations between their group affiliations and health care risks."

Patient empowerment is marketed as a paradigm shift because it puts medical data in the hands of the consumer, not just the doctor. But the authors conclude that the focus on empowerment could clash with the reality of what patients are willing or able to do with the information they receive. "The idea of patient empowerment may run up against not only the limits of patients' control over their health, but also the limits of patient control over health care systems," the article says.

The authors are Eric T. Juengst, director of the Center for Bioethics and professor in the Departments of Social Medicine and Genetics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Michael A. Flatt, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Case Western Reserve University; and Richard A. Settersten, Jr., professor of social and behavioral health sciences and endowed director of the Hallie E. Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University.

In a commentary on the article, Ronni Sandroff, editorial director of Health and Family at Consumer Reports, acknowledges that pharmacogenomics could take control away from a patient if a health insurance company opted not to cover a medicine that was shown to work infrequently in people with a particular genetic makeup. But even an increase in patient empowerment can have downsides if it shifts the responsibility for health care to patients and stigmatizes people who do not, or cannot, make the "right" health choices. Sandroff notes that the greatest challenge in preventive medicine is getting people to eat less, exercise more, and reduce stress. Whether or not genetic susceptibility information will actually empower patients by propelling them toward healthier lifestyles is unknown. "This is a question that needs more serious study," she writes.

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Personalized genomic medicine: How much can it really empower patients?

How do you get 800,000 soldiers into fighting shape? What has the sequencing of the human genome actually achieved? And where the heck is my medical tricorder, anyway?

These and other questions will be answered next week at the inaugural WIRED Health Conference an on-stage embodiment of WIREDs tradition of reporting on the frontiers of medical science. The conference will debut on Monday, Oct. 15 at 4 p.m. ET in New York City. It will be simulcast in a free live-feed at http://www.wiredhealthconference.com.

The theme of the event is Living By Numbers the notion that new data and analytics are enabling better healthcare delivery and research. The idea is straightforward on its face: By paying heed to our health, and taking advantage of new tools for self-monitoring, feedback, and community, we can empower our own actions and skirt the disease risks that life throws at us. But this potential is only just upon us, with the combination of new computing power, ample data storage, and having the right questions at hand. This technology is just beginning to enable the new frontier of personalized medicine: combining the insights of epidemiology with our own personal metrics to customize medical science to individuals.

The WIRED Health Conference will be an exploration of the challenges and opportunities of this new data-driven medicine. For two days, WIRED editors will host conversations with the innovators who are creating this new science geneticist Craig Venter, MITs Gig Hirsch and those who are leveraging it for all our benefit architect Michael Graves, Intels Andy Grove. There will be Olympic gold medalists and U.S. Army brigadier generals. Robots will commandeer the stage. And obsessive self-trackers from Tim Ferriss (author of The Four Hour Body) to Stephen Wolfram (creator of Wolfram Alpha) will reveal both their secret formulae and their findings. We also expect some news-making announcements, including the unveiling of new tracking technologies and tools.

The power of data to change healthcare is real, and its something that WIRED has been on the vanguard of. Now is the time to see what the next chapter holds.

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Living by Numbers: Wired Health Conference Explores Personalized Medicine

by John C. Goodman

Source: Townhall.com

Personalized medicine is the future. It's where the science is going. It's where the technology is going. It's where doctors and patients will want to go. Yet, unfortunately for many of us, this is not where the Obama administration wants to go.

First, the good news. All this is great news. Unless you happen to be in traditional Medicare. Or in Medicaid. Or unless you acquire subsidized insurance in a health insurance exchange. Or in some cases, even if you get health insurance from an employer.

Implantable or attachable devices already exist or soon will exist that can monitor the conditions of diabetics, asthmatics, heart patients and patients with numerous other chronic conditions. These devices will allow patients and doctors to modify therapeutic regimes and tailor treatments to individual needs and responses. Genetic testing is reaching the point where patients can be directed to take certain drugs or avoid other drugs, based solely on the patient's own genes.

As many as 1,300 genetic tests currently are available that relate to some 2,500 medical conditions. These tests can predict your probability of getting particular types of cancer, whether you'll respond to routine chemotherapy or whether there's a special therapy that only works on people with your particular physiology. The days when experts argued over whether men should get a prostate cancer test could be long gone. A simple test can tell if you have a high probability of contracting the disease, or a low one.

In an interview with CNN the other day former White House health adviser Ezekiel Emanuel called "personalized medicine a myth." According to his own center's summary of the interview:

[He] characterized excited public discussion of the potential of population-wide individual gene-based medicine as "hyperbolic." He said tailoring medical treatments to individual characteristics of each patient is both overly optimistic and cost-prohibitive and likened the process to buying a custom-made suit versus one off the rack.

But if custom-made suits fit better and look better, what's wrong with that? Ditto for health care. And if individualized care is better and more promising care, how does Emanuel know it would be cost-prohibitive? Even more puzzling, given the spectacular results with eye cancer, why would anyone especially an oncologist react so hostilely?

The answer is: ObamaCare's entire approach to cost control is premised on the idea that we are all alike. And if we aren't alike, everything they are doing doesn't make sense.

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The J. Craig Venter Institute has appointed Karen Nelson as President and Robert Friedman as chief operating officer. They will report to Craig Venter, who will continue to lead JCVI as founder, CEO, and chairman of the board of trustees. Nelson has been at JCVI since 1996 and will continue to serve as director of the institute's offices in Rockville, Md., and leader of the Human Genomic Medicine Group. She will remain based in Rockville. Friedman has been with the institute since 2003 and he is director of the San Diego facility and head of the JCVI Policy Group. He will keep those duties but will take on more administrative leadership responsibilities.

XDx has named Peter Maag to be its president and CEO, effective immediately, the molecular diagnostics company said this week. Maag previously was president of Novartis Diagnostics, where he ran the company's blood screening business and created a strategy for the company's investment into developing diagnostics for transplantation, infectious disease, and prenatal care. He also was country president for Novartis Pharma in Germany and held other positions at Novartis after working at McKinsey and Company.

The Human Frontier Science Program Organization has awarded Stephen Quake the 2013 Nakasone Award for his work developing technologies in biophysics, biological automation, genome analysis, and personalized medicine. Quake is a professor of bioengineering and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Stanford University. He is also a co-founder of Helicos Biosciences and Fluidigm.

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Foundation Medicine, Eisai Inks Personalized Med Alliance

The J. Craig Venter Institute has appointed Karen Nelson as President and Robert Friedman as chief operating officer. They will report to Craig Venter, who will continue to lead JCVI as founder, CEO, and chairman of the board of trustees. Nelson has been at JCVI since 1996 and will continue to serve as director of the institute's offices in Rockville, Md., and leader of the Human Genomic Medicine Group. She will remain based in Rockville. Friedman has been with the institute since 2003 and he is director of the San Diego facility and head of the JCVI Policy Group. He will keep those duties but will take on more administrative leadership responsibilities.

XDx has named Peter Maag to be its president and CEO, effective immediately, the molecular diagnostics company said this week. Maag previously was president of Novartis Diagnostics, where he ran the company's blood screening business and created a strategy for the company's investment into developing diagnostics for transplantation, infectious disease, and prenatal care. He also was country president for Novartis Pharma in Germany and held other positions at Novartis after working at McKinsey and Company.

The Human Frontier Science Program Organization has awarded Stephen Quake the 2013 Nakasone Award for his work developing technologies in biophysics, biological automation, genome analysis, and personalized medicine. Quake is a professor of bioengineering and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Stanford University. He is also a co-founder of Helicos Biosciences and Fluidigm.

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Foundation Medicine, Eisai Ink Personalized Med Alliance

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/m427tb/competitive) has announced the addition of the "Competitive Handbook towards Personalized Medicine in Prostate Cancer" report to their offering.

BioSeeker builds its analysis on a comprehensive base of 394 prostate cancer drugs from within the portfolio of 222 companies world-wide, from Ceased to Marketed. We have identified 227 drug targets, which we have organized into 216 drug target strategies, and assessed them by four levels:

1. Individual Target: Shows you how individual targets tie into different target strategies and their subsequent R&D progress.

2. Developmental Stage: Shows you the progress and maturation of different target strategies. Identifies which target strategies are new and unique from one developmental stage to the next.

3. Compound Type: Shows you the competitive landscape of target strategies from a compound perspective, including crossover analysis of target strategies among different compound types.

4. Company: Provides a cross-examination of each company's entire pipeline on the basis of its defined drug target strategies, including a Competitive Fall-Out analysis and a corporate pipeline ranking based on 15 parameters.

Companies Mentioned:

Abbott

Active Biotech

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Research and Markets: Competitive Handbook towards Personalized Medicine in Prostate Cancer Report Identifies 227 Drug ...

British scientist John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka of Japan shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine Monday for experiments separated by almost 50 years that provide deep insight into how animals develop and offer hope for a new era of personalized medicine.

Their findings have revolutionized our understanding of how cells and organisms develop, the Nobel committee said in the prize announcement.

In 1962, Gurdon wowed the world of biology by cloning a frog via a clever technique. He transplanted the genetic material from an intestinal cell of one frog into an egg cell from another. The egg developed into a tadpole, showing that ordinary cells contain the entire genetic instruction manual for whole organism.

The experiment which other scientists were slow to accept as valid led in 1997 to the cloning of the first mammal, Dolly the sheep. Since then, scientists have cloned mice, dogs, cats, pigs, horses and cattle, although mutliple attempts to clone monkeys have failed, as have attempts to produce cloned human embryos. Cloned mice have become laboratory mainstays.

Gurdon, 79, is an emeritus professor at Cambridge University who still conducts research at an institute there bearing his name and was knighted in 1995 for his work in developmental biology. His frog experiments a half-century ago showed that scientists should be able to derive any one kind of cell from another, because theyve all got the same genes, Gurdon said Monday at a London news briefing.

In 2006 and 2007, Yamanaka extended this insight by turning back time on individual cells from mice and humans. By sprinkling four genes on ordinary skin cells, Yamanaka discovered a virtual fountain of youth: Any cell, he found, could be reverted to an early embryonic state.

These induced embryonic cells behave much like the ethically contentious stem cells gleaned from human embryos. Like embyronic cells, they can be grown into many other types of tissues but without having to destroy any embryos.

The breakthrough offered hope that someday skin cells could be harvested from a patient, sent back in time to an embryonic state, and then grown into replacement tissues such as heart muscle or nerve cells.

A huge global research effort is working to develop pluripotent stem cells, as theyre called, into treatments for heart disease, some forms of blindness, Parkinsons disease and many other disorders.

Because the cells made by the technique are genetically identical to the patient, the advance may one day allow us to transplant rejection-proof tissues, said George Daley, a leading U.S. stem cell researcher and director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

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Nobel Prize for medicine awarded to Gurdon, Yamanaka for stem cell discoveries