Genomics and precision medicine: setting the right course now

In many clinics, what used to be considered medicine of the future is already deciding how early cancer is detected and which therapy actually works. Genomics and precision medicine are fundamentally changing diagnostics and treatment in the sense of personalized medicine, moving away from standardized therapies towards individual, molecularly based decisions.

Technologies such as genome sequencing or liquid biopsy from genome research open up new possibilities for early detection, prevention and personalized therapy, but pose structural, regulatory and economic challenges for the healthcare system. The course that needs to be set is now no longer a theoretical question.

Looking back at MEDICA, two of the panel participants provide insight into their key demands for the further development of genomics and precision medicine.

The expansion of genomics and precision medicine poses fundamental structural questions for the healthcare system. The issues under discussion include access to high-quality healthcare data, reliable quality standards, fair competitive conditions between different healthcare facilities, and regulatory and financial frameworks that do not slow down innovation. In this context, Dr. Saskia Biskup formulates her key demands:

1. ensure data availability
2. put quality first
3. include everyone, not just university locations and allow competition
4. stop over-regulation
5. don't waste taxpayers' money endlessly.

With regard to the role of exchange platforms, she emphasizes:

Dr. Maike Reith, Medical Affairs at Roche Diagnostics Deutschland GmbH, emphasizes at MEDICA: "High-quality diagnostics increase efficiency and patient safety, if the framework conditions are right."

For Maike Reith, precision diagnostics is the key not only to providing patients with individualized care, but also to using resources more efficiently. However, she identifies the current remuneration logic of the German healthcare system as a key hurdle. In her opinion, the success of precision medicine is largely determined at the beginning of the treatment pathway: the question of whether the necessary evidence-based diagnostic procedures are reimbursed promptly and comprehensively.

At the center of her demand is an earlier and appropriate integration of evidence-based precision diagnostics into standard reimbursement. Maike Reith cites liquid biopsy as an example of this challenge. This procedure enables a well-founded treatment decision to be made, particularly in the case of advanced tumor diseases, for example when a tissue biopsy is not possible or only possible at high risk. Despite the proven clinical benefits, comprehensive molecular analysis in Germany has so far only been paid for on tissue.

Maike Reith highlights: "Only if the reimbursement logic in the German healthcare system reflects technological progress can the promise of precision medicine be fulfilled in the reality of healthcare."

Prompt, comprehensive reimbursement is the prerequisite for precision diagnostics to be used not just in individual cases, but systematically with the aim of improving treatment decisions, reducing side effects and using resources more efficiently.

Regarding the role of platforms such as MEDICA, she adds that interdisciplinary dialog between medicine, industry and politics is a central prerequisite for the implementation of precision diagnostics.

The voices raised in the discussion show that the medical potential of precision medicine is a reality, but its widespread implementation is not yet. The decisive factor will be whether it is possible to bring together innovation, regulation and care in such a way that the potential of genomic medicine is not only discussed, but also utilized.

This is precisely where the importance of platforms such as MEDICA becomes apparent. As an international meeting place for medicine, technology and the healthcare industry, MEDICA provides the framework for bringing these issues together and accelerating the transfer of innovations into clinical practice.