Genomics and precision medicine

Genomics is a rapidly growing market, and the UK is well placed to help businesses design and deliver precision medicine solutions.

The UK can offer:

• excellent research capabilities
• unparallel research data
• leading and expert infrastructure
• a highly developed ecosystem that provides a test bed for research and healthcare implementation
• a supportive business environment and policies to enable the growth of this dynamic industry

Opportunity highlights

Research and stratification

The UK is one of the best locations in the world to develop and commercialise technologies to better understand and stratify both inherited and acquired disease.

The NHS has 70 years of experience and vast datasets for 100% of its population. The UK’s Biobank is a large-scale biomedical database and research resource, containing in-depth, de-identified genetic and health information from half a million UK participants.

By applying the latest genomics advances and healthcare technology, it’s possible to improve early diagnosis and prevention of disease. This incorporates the use of the UK’s unparalleled research data to uncover new insights.

Diagnostic technologies for prevention

Early and better diagnosis through diagnostic screening, imaging, companion diagnostics and digital pathology is at the epicentre of effective precision medicine.

The UK has been expanding screening in early life, undertaking targeted screening, and developing diagnostic devices and tests. This means they have been able to address population health issues before they become severe, ultimately enhancing the quality of life for patients and optimising healthcare resources and reducing the burden of disease to the health system.

Digital health solutions, self-care and remote monitoring have been implemented for patients to spend less time in hospitals. Technology is growing in the prevention area with new models of care, AI for diagnosis, genomics, digital therapeutics, and behavioural health management solutions.

Collaborative efforts across the NHS, research institutions, industry, and government ensure that new diagnostic tools and early intervention strategies are rapidly developed, validated, and deployed. As a result, the UK continues to lead in providing effective, proactive healthcare solutions that set a global benchmark for early disease management and prevention.

Targeted treatment

Precision treatments that are guided by diagnostics will treat illness more effectively. The UK offers a unique national infrastructure for advanced and precision therapies. It provides end-to-end support to industry for research, development, manufacture, licencing and delivery, and introduction into the NHS.

Commercial maturity

The global precision medicine market was valued at $73.49 billion in 2022. The UK market is expected to grow significantly in the coming years.

There are many reasons to invest in the UK. For example, the UK landscape creates an excellent opportunity for overseas investors for research and application, with an ageing, ethnically diverse and multicultural population, supportive government policies, and robust regulatory expertise and standards.

The UK’s healthcare and life sciences sector is poised to welcome precision medicine innovation through specialised precision medicine infrastructure in a national health system, technological development support, and established innovation and clinical trial infrastructure.

The UK has a world-leading academic and science base with access to skilled people, and an established industry and value chain, working alongside an active research and patient charity sector.

Key UK assets

National assets such as the UK Biobank and Genomics England have international recognition, but DBT can help to connect investors to hotspots for precision medicine in the UK, such as in:

Scotland

Scotland has fantastic clinical data, researchers and facilities, industry partners and centres of excellence, with links into NHS Scotland for real world application. The University of Glasgow and local NHS have partnered with industry and public sector to create The Living Laboratory for precision medicine next to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is a hub for high-throughput genomics, digital pathology and big data analytics. Belfast’s Precision Medicine Centre of Excellence at Queen’s University Belfast, Clinical Translational Research and Innovation Centre and Future Medicines Institute – all collaborate with industry and the NHS.

West Midlands

The region is a hub for experimental and translational medicine and has one of the UK’s 3 Advanced Therapy Treatment Centres. The West Midlands’ unique health data platforms include more than 20 years of longitudinal data over 1.2 million records, linked across 153 acute care hospitals.

The region is also a world-class centre for precision medicine, clinical trials, and diagnostic imaging and digital leadership.

South East England – Stevenage

The cell and gene therapy cluster in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, has become the largest in Europe. Located between London and Cambridge, it’s a global hub for R&D and manufacturing, and home to the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, both of which offer state-of-the-art specialist facilities to facilitate the discovery and manufacture of cell and gene therapy products.

R&D capability

Clinical research, genomic and health data capabilities make the UK a highly effective and efficient place in which to test and trial new technologies for the most important healthcare challenges – creating better value for industry and early access for NHS patients.

The UK’s many Centres of Excellence offer cutting-edge research and expertise in precision medicine and diagnostics. They help companies to design, research and develop their precision medicine solutions - integrated with an active, at-scale healthcare system.

The UK also boasts Health Data Research Hubs, some of which focus on precision medicine opportunities.

Business and government support

The UK government was an early investor in precision medicine and has a consistent track record in working alongside the charity/third sector to fund programmes, infrastructure, and research.

It founded and expanded the UK Biobank, establishing Genomics England to run the 100,000 Genomes Project as the first and largest study of its kind in the world, and has embedded whole genome sequencing into routine clinical care in the NHS.

Genomics England’s mission is to continue refining, scaling, and evolving their ability to enable others to deliver genomic healthcare and conduct genomic research.

Government-funded infrastructure such as Advanced Therapy Treatment Centres, digital pathology and radiology centres of excellence, as well as MedTech and In Vitro Diagnostics Cooperatives, have been established to work with industry on accelerating the development and introduction of precision medicine technologies.

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