SIMON Corbell says the ACT is set to move to the forefront of health care delivery by investing $7.3m in new diagnosis and patient care technology that will allow new and existing drug therapies to be tailored to individual patients based on their genetics and condition.

Simon said the new Clinical Genomic Service, which will be established in Canberra as part of the 2016-17 ACT Budget, would give Canberrans access to new, personally tailored healthcare treatments.

“This new service will help clinicians to manage patients with immunological disease and other complex diseases through the use of personalised medicines that are tailored to the individual,” Simon said.

“By providing a locally available genomics and genetic pathology service, we are helping our doctors to tailor care to the individual needs of their patients with personalised medicines, which also has the potential to reduce the number of tests necessary for patients to reach a diagnosis.

“The new genomics program will build on existing research, expertise and achievements of the Centre for Personalised Immunology at the John Curtin School of Medical Research to develop genomics as part of a clinical and diagnostic service in partnership with ACT Pathology.

“The ACT Government is committed to building a health system which not only meets growing demand, but also creates highly-skilled jobs, delivers new services and harnesses world-leading research.

“As part of this, we are investing in our health, education and research sectors to help them work together to provide innovative models of care and the new therapies that will help us live longer, healthier lives.

“Jurisdictions across Australia are working on strategies for the implementation of genomics into clinical practice and this funding for a service here in Canberra puts us at the cutting edge of these exciting new clinical opportunities.”

The Centre for Personalised Immunology at the John Curtin School was established in April 2014 to help people with immune diseases by discovering causative genetic variation with the goal of delivering treatment strategies targeted to the individual patient.

The Canberra Clinical Genomic Service being funded as part of this year’s budget will utilise state-of-the-art infrastructure already in place at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University.

The 2016-17 ACT Budget will be officially handed down on June 7.

[Photo via ANU Media]