The Swedish Innovation Agency Vinnova has decided to fund the further development and implementation of the National Genomics Platform so that data generated in healthcare can be put to the greatest possible use. For healthcare, research and innovation.
“This is fantastic news. Now we can finally take the next step to fully deploy the National Genomics Platform. This is an untapped resource where, by linking omics data with other data, we can generate great value both for the individual patient and for society as a whole,” says Per Sikora, responsible project leader and co-chair of GMS Informatics.
Vinnova will fund the project with SEK 30 million over a four-year period. The project is one of three so-called system demonstrators, where several different actors in the health field work together to test new ways to use health data in real environments.
“This project is valuable both for the individual patient, but also for developing healthcare in general. The initiative gives Sweden completely new conditions for sharing omics data both nationally and internationally”, says Anders Edsjö, deputy project manager and vice director of GMS.
“This is a very important initiative for Sweden as a country and for all patients. Especially for individuals living with rare diseases where the ability to share data between healthcare providers in Sweden and also internationally is crucial for a patient to receive a diagnosis”, says Stephanie Juran, Rare diseases Sweden.
Within the system demonstrator, a deeper collaboration will be established with the precision medicine node within the Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS) program at SciLifeLab. This will enable the efficient use of data in ethically approved research projects.
“Precision medicine is a field under constant development and it is important that knowledge generated in research is quickly utilised in healthcare, while data generated in healthcare is used in research. Connecting NGP and the precision medicine data node at SciLifeLab will therefore be crucial”, says Janne Lehtiö, Scientific Lead for Precision Medicine at SciLifeLab.
Within the project portals and applications to utilise data for different stakeholders will be developed. Examples of applications and tools are national decision support for rare hereditary diseases and cancer, a national system for typing and investigation of microbial outbreaks, a statistics portal for quality monitoring and follow-up, and a portal where data can be made available for research and innovation while maintaining the protection of individual privacy.
“There is a great interest and need among our member companies to be able to perform more complex feasibility studies for the planning and design of clinical trials and to perform biomarker-based follow-up of approved drugs. A portal where data can be made available for research and innovation creates great opportunities for Sweden as a life science nation,” says Frida Lundmark, policy expert at Lif – the research-based pharmaceutical companies.
Partners in the project:
Region Skåne, Region Stockholm, Region Uppsala, Region Västerbotten, Region Örebro County, Region Östergötland, Region Västra Götaland, University of Gothenburg, Karolinska Institutet, Linköping University, Lund University, Umeå University, Uppsala University and Örebro University, SciLifeLab/DDLS Precision Medicine Data Science Node (organisationally within Karolinska Institutet), LiF – the research-based pharmaceutical companies, Swedish Labtech, Network Against Cancer and Rare diseases Swden.
Links:
Vinnova: Large-scale projects will streamline the use of health data
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