The Business Times
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Singapore has a chance to shine in precision medicine

Existing research capabilities and support for new startups can drive growth in this field

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    • Singapore’s strengths position it to ride the precision-medicine wave. The country has deep research and development and clinical expertise, strengths in genomics, and a burgeoning biomedical industry.
    • Singapore’s strengths position it to ride the precision-medicine wave. The country has deep research and development and clinical expertise, strengths in genomics, and a burgeoning biomedical industry. PHOTO: BT FILE

    Clarice Chen

    Published Fri, Sep 20, 2024 · 05:00 AM

    IMAGINE if the medicine prescribed to you could be tailored to your genetic makeup. This would prevent instances of drugs having no effect – or worse, making you sicker.

    With precision medicine, this is not merely a matter of imagination. Nalagenetics, a spin-off of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), aims to do just this.

    The company is working with the National University Hospital and Raffles Medical Group on something called “pre-emptive pharmacogenomics”. This involves understanding a patient’s genomic profile and cross-checking it with biomarkers, to pre-emptively flag any issues with medication.

    Medical researchHealthcareMedicineEnterprise Singapore

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