Aggregated News
Here comes genomics, Take 2.
Pharmaceutical companies invested heavily in genetic studies in the frenzy after the sequencing of the human genome a decade ago, only to find it did not lead to the expected bonanza of new drugs.
Now, however, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a fast-growing biotechnology company, is undertaking an ambitious new genomics effort, in partnership with the Geisinger Health System, which treats three million people in Pennsylvania.
Regeneron will sequence DNA from about 100,000 volunteers among Geisinger's patients, seeking genetic variants linked to different diseases that may provide clues to developing new drugs. Geisinger, in turn, hopes to use the genetic information to improve patient care.
"Scientifically and medically, it's pretty exciting," said Dr. Leslie G. Biesecker, chief of the genetic disease research branch at the government's National Human Genome Research Institute, who is familiar with the project. "As far as I'm aware, it's the largest clinical sequencing undertaking in this country so far by a long shot." He added that the move of sequencing into general health care "is going to change medicine."
Dr. George D. Yancopoulos, the...
Pharmaceutical companies invested heavily in genetic studies in the frenzy after the sequencing of the human genome a decade ago, only to find it did not lead to the expected bonanza of new drugs.
Now, however, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a fast-growing biotechnology company, is undertaking an ambitious new genomics effort, in partnership with the Geisinger Health System, which treats three million people in Pennsylvania.
Regeneron will sequence DNA from about 100,000 volunteers among Geisinger's patients, seeking genetic variants linked to different diseases that may provide clues to developing new drugs. Geisinger, in turn, hopes to use the genetic information to improve patient care.
"Scientifically and medically, it's pretty exciting," said Dr. Leslie G. Biesecker, chief of the genetic disease research branch at the government's National Human Genome Research Institute, who is familiar with the project. "As far as I'm aware, it's the largest clinical sequencing undertaking in this country so far by a long shot." He added that the move of sequencing into general health care "is going to change medicine."
Dr. George D. Yancopoulos, the...