Go from the ‘One size fits all’ to ” tailored dress‘. This is the goal pursued by the new Strategic Plan for Personalized Precision Medicine that is coming to an end Regional Ministry of Health and that it will mean a change in the prevention and treatment of numerous diseases in patients who are distinguished by their genetics, their susceptibility to suffering a pathology or their response to a particular treatment.
the strategy, Which is working to see the light this year 2021 and which will be implemented progressively, will affect both patients suffering from rare diseases, as well as oncological processes and other hereditary diseases, as explained to Ical Ministry sources of Health.
The Planication it is based on a new vision of medicine, a paradigm shift that translates into a more precise clinical approach, both in diagnosis and treatment, as it adjusts to a single patient, which will revert to improving quality, lessening adverse effects, and advancing safety.
With these premises, and with the help of the “dizzying advancement of technology”, the plan will focus on 13 strategic lines that include the development of the portfolio of services and the map of resources; parameters to ensure compliance with standards; implement technology for the diagnosis of genetic-based diseases, at the same time that it foresees to incorporate new specialties to system like Clinical Genetics or Bioinformatics.
targets
Objectives also include compliance with ethical standards, large-scale information management; study of the variability of the response to drugs, and aspects related to cooperation, professional coordination and training.
The document will focus on research, as in addition to having a plan related to the incorporation of new specialists, it delves into training strategies, both university and continuing, as well as other research and innovation in both the diagnostic and therapeutic field, big data management and a Pharmacogenetics application.
“Precision personalized medicine focuses on the individual characteristics of the patient. Combining the advantages of technology with the personalization of care allows us to better focus health care and adapt it in each case “, explains to Ical the head of the Regional Reference Unit for Rare Diseases of Castilla y León, DiERCyL, María Isidoro García, Who is also head of the Clinical Analysis Service at the Salamanca University Care Complex.
Reference model
The doctor highlights the opportunities for patients to open the strategy, based on the «New vision that has been developed in Castilla y León over the last few years, it has been a pioneer in many fields in the field of Genomics or Pharmacogenetics “, he explains.
In fact, he explains, that the Report of the Institut Roche ‘Precision personalized medicine in Spain: map of communities‘From 2019, places Castilla y León among the most developed communities, along with Andalusia, Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country, and concludes that “the methodology defined by the application of personalized precision medicine in Castilla y León it is considered a reference model at state level with potential for implementation in other autonomous communities. In fact, professionals from all over Spain come to the Community to find out about their model, for which there is more than three years on the waiting list.
opportunities
What is at stake is that the system revolves around the patient, so that it also seeks to facilitate continuity of care, reduce travel between different consultations and response times, adjust clinical and laboratory diagnostic resources to the needs in each case, avoid duplications and facilitate the creation of multidisciplinary teams with greater coordination and communication between specialists in the clinical assessment of patients, adds Isidoro García.
Planning is based on the premise of the extent and geographical dispersion of Castile and Leon for which it provides coordinated networks and make the most of resources. It also takes into account the difficulties posed by the huge technological development -genomics and mass sequencing, determination of biomarkers, use of large volumes of data, among others- that will force Sacyl to incorporate the latest advances in order to offer assistance of quality. In fact, it highlights the need for high specialization on the part of professionals, both in the clinical field and in the laboratory.
first steps
At this time, Castile and Leon it already has several plans and services on which the new strategy has been built and which will be expanded. This is the case with the hereditary cancer program, especially in breast, ovarian, and colon cancers; the CSUR National Reference Unit for Family Heart Diseases, In Salamanca, which has a high level of specialization focused, among other things, on the prevention of sudden death; and the Regional Reference Unit for Advanced Diagnosis of Rare Diseases, which has so far cared for almost 2,500 patients across the Community, with the identification of more than 50 ultra-rare diseases.
Also, there is the Non-Invasive Prenatal Diagnosis Unit, Recently accredited, and the Pharmacogenetics and Precision Medicine Unit, in Salamanca, a pioneer in the application of pharmacogenetic studies in the treatment of polymedicated patients; the use of biomarkers for the choice of treatment in certain tumors; and the development of CART-t therapies developed at Charro Hospital for some hematological cancers.
These latest therapies highlight the characteristics and reality of precision medicine. These are immune cells – T lymphocytes – extracted from the patient himself that are genetically modified, administered back to the patient and allow these T lymphocytes to recognize a specific protein, an antigen, from the cells. tumors.
“The strategy raises new scenarios related to care coordination, which can facilitate the access of our patients to the different care structures as well as the implementation of units that may be more in need of development,” summarizes Isidoro Garcia, for whom Sacyl’s plan captures all the conclusions of the paper on Precision Genomic Medina, which was developed in the Senate in 2019 and on which national planning is based. «The regional strategy includes all aspects of these conclusions and positions us to be able to develop each of the aspects, so we will be fully aligned», Sentence.