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   U.S. to Collect Genetic Data to Hone Care   
      
   Video | Obama on New Medical Funding Initiative The president discussed a new   
   initiative included in his budget that would fund research into precision   
   medicine, which tailors treatment to genetic and other factors of individual   
   patients.   
   By ROBERT PEAR   
   JANUARY 30, 2015   
   WASHINGTON -- Saying that "the possibilities are boundless," President Obama   
   on Friday announced a major biomedical research initiative, including plans to   
   collect genetic data on one million Americans so scientists could develop   
   drugs and treatments    
   tailored to the characteristics of individual patients.   
      
   Dr. Francis S. Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health,   
   said the studies would help doctors decide which treatments would work best   
   for which patients.   
      
   White House officials said the "precision medicine initiative" would begin   
   with a down payment of $215 million in the president's budget request for the   
   fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.   
      
   Precision medicine, also known as personalized or individualized medicine,   
   "gives us one of the greatest opportunities for new medical breakthroughs that   
   we have ever seen," Mr. Obama said at a White House event attended by   
   patients' advocates,    
   researchers, and drug and biotechnology company executives.   
      
   Among those in the audience was Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of   
   Tennessee and chairman of the Senate health committee, who said he intended to   
   work with the president on the issue.   
      
   Mr. Obama said the new initiative could save lives, create jobs, foster new   
   industries and help people overcome "the accidents and circumstances of our   
   birth."   
      
      
   "If we're born with a particular disease, or a particular genetic makeup that   
   makes us more vulnerable to something, that's not our destiny, that's not our   
   fate," Mr. Obama said. "We can remake it. That's who we are as Americans, and   
   that's the power of    
   scientific discovery."   
      
   Federal officials described the project as a research consortium that would   
   collect information from large numbers of people. The data could include   
   medical records, laboratory test results, profiles of patients' genes, and   
   information about their diet,    
   tobacco use, lifestyle and environment.   
      
   "We have been waiting for this for many, many years," Dr. José Baselga, the   
   chief medical officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York,   
   said of the project. "We dreamed of this. We can mine the genome of tumors   
   from our patients,    
   identify mutations responsible for the tumors and accelerate improvements in   
   patient care."   
      
   The president's budget request includes $130 million for the consortium, White   
   House officials said. In addition, they said, Mr. Obama will request $70   
   million for the National Cancer Institute, the largest unit of the National   
   Institutes of Health, to    
   investigate genes that may contribute to the risk of developing certain types   
   of cancer, and then to use that knowledge to develop more effective treatments.   
      
   Mr. Obama also plans to seek $10 million for the Food and Drug Administration,   
   which regulates the technology used to analyze DNA. Such analysis can identify   
   millions of genetic variants, providing information that would help diagnose   
   or treat some    
   diseases, officials said.   
      
   The budget request also includes $5 million for health information technology   
   so researchers can safely exchange data.   
      
   "We're going to make sure that protecting patient privacy is built into our   
   efforts from Day 1," Mr. Obama said. "And I'm proud we have so many   
   patients-rights advocates with us here today. They're not going to be on the   
   sidelines. This is not going to    
   be an afterthought. They'll help us design this initiative from the ground up,   
   making sure that we harness the new technologies and opportunities in a   
   responsible way."   
      
   Since the 1990s, researchers have been collecting and storing human tissue and   
   other biological specimens in repositories known as biobanks.   
      
   Jo Handelsman, the associate director of the White House Office of Science and   
   Technology Policy, said of the president's plan: "We do not envision this as   
   being a biobank, which would suggest a single repository for all the data or   
   all the samples.    
   There are existing cohorts around the country that have already been started   
   and have rich sources of data. The challenge in this initiative is to link   
   them together and fill in the gaps."   
      
   Dr. Collins said the initiative was feasible because of advances in genetics   
   and cell biology, the use of electronic medical records, significant increases   
   in computing power and a sharp decline over the last 15 years in the cost of a   
   laboratory    
   technique known as DNA sequencing. The technique is used to investigate the   
   functions of genes and to analyze the full set of a person's genes -- the   
   genome.   
      
   "It cost us $400 million for that first genome," Dr. Collins said. "Now a   
   genome can be sequenced for a cost approximating $1,000."   
      
   Nancy A. Brown, the chief executive of the American Heart Association, said   
   that patients with heart disease, like those with cancer, could benefit from   
   precision medicine.   
      
   Her organization is compiling a database of genetic information. The data, she   
   said, could help doctors tailor treatments for heart failure or abnormal heart   
   rhythms, or find the right combination of drugs to lower high blood pressure.   
      
      
      
      
   http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/01/31/us/obama-to-unveil-research   
   initiative-aiming-to-develop-tailored-medical-treatments.html?referrer=   
      
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