CANBERRA, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- A coalition of Australia's leading academics have released a road map for an improved healthcare system, indicating precision medicine having the potential to transform medical care in Australia.
"The future of precision medicine in Australia" report was released by the Australian Council Of Learned Academics (ACOLA) and Health Minister Greg Hunt on Wednesday.
Precision medicine allows accurate disease prevention and treatment tailored to an individual by combining knowledge of a person's environment, their genetic make-up and protein levels.
The main focus of precision medication to date has been on single-gene disorders and cancer but the report said that there are exciting opportunities to improve outcomes for complex disorders such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
"With careful planning, advances in precision medicine and the technologies that support it will offer great value for the health of all Australians. Precision medicine is the personalised medicine of the future," Bob Williamson, chair of the ACOLA expert working group, said in a media release on Wednesday.
Australia's Chief Scientist Alan Finkel, who commissioned the report, said that it would deliver a better health system for Australia.
"The essence of this report is optimisation: the optimisation of public policy for individual care. It provides the intellectual framework for a healthcare revolution that will shape the lives and choices of all Australians," Finkel said.
The report did warn that precision medication could lead to genetic discrimination, saying that ensuring every Australian could reap the benefits of the practice would require careful implementation.
The launch of the report was attended by four-year-old Louis who has benefited from precision medicine since he was diagnosed with a severe condition at five months old.
Doctors were able to isolate the gene which produced his illness using genomic analysis and develop a treatment regime.
"We were told he was unlikely to survive more than a few years," his mother, Amy, said.
"Precision medicine has changed our family's life and we will be forever grateful."
