Obama to outline new personalized medicine plan

"I'm launching a new Precision Medicine Initiative to bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetesand to give all of us access to the personalized information we need to keep ourselves and our families healthier.We can do this," said President Obamaduring the 2015 State of the Union Address.

On Friday, President Obama is expected to elaborateonthePrecision Medicine Initiative, which he first introduced during last week'sState of the Union Address. Obama will ask Congress for $215 million to help get the projectoff the ground.

Theassociate director for science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policyexplained, "Precision medicine is about moving beyond [the] one-size-fits-all approach to medicine and, instead, taking into account people's genes, their microbiomes, their environments and their lifestyles."

If the budget is approved, right off the bat it will mainly focus on cancer research and treatment. There are four major players in the initiative which would receive that $215 million.

First, the National Institutes of Health would get the lion's share $130 millionto help create a database totrackdata of about 1 million volunteer donors.

"Now, that will of course include genomic sequencing. But it will also include things like lifestyle, things from their medical records, use of personal health devices, all sorts of things. So it's a really comprehensive project," explained a reporterfor CNBC.

$70 million would go to the National Cancer Instituteto help discover if there aregenetic factors that lead to cancer.

The Food and Drug Administration would receive $10 million to create structures to better deal with personalized medicine and fast-track breakthroughs.

Lastly, $5 million is expected to go tothe Office of the National Coordinatorfor Health Information Technology tocreate a better technological systemfor the new incentive.

At least four large pharmaceutical companies including Illumina, which heavily focuses ongenetic sequencing are expected to attend a White House event Friday where more information willbe released.

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Obama to outline new personalized medicine plan

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