An industry-led healthcare innovation hub in precision medicine
Getting the right treatment to the right person at the right time. This is the goal of precision medicine– drugs specifically targeted to a person’s genetic makeup rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach.
Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre (SMS-IC) works with partners on precision medicine programmes across major disease areas, including ovarian, pancreatic and oesophageal cancers; rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.
SMS-IC is one of eight Innovation Centres established just over five years ago by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). The Centres were created to enhance innovation and entrepreneurship across Scotland’s key economic sectors, create jobs and grow the economy.
SMS-IC comprises a novel partnership enabling academia, industry and the NHS to work together to change the way we think about health problems, developing better diagnostics and improving the chances of delivering successful treatments to patients.
Precision Medicine in Scotland
Scotland, and in particular Glasgow, has established itself as an ideal location for the advancement of precision medicine. Diane Harbison, Chief Executive Officer of SMS-IC, explains, “Scotland has a small, stable population, a single unified health system, world-renowned universities, some of the best health data in the world, not to mention a high incidence of complex diseases – all the right ingredients for making new discoveries in precision medicine.”
“So, for companies who are looking to try and cure those diseases, we're a good population to work with. They can get access to patients who have the disease, they can try and find new therapies to treat the diseases, and they can identify biomarkers that tell them whether or not the drugs are working in the patients.”
The Precision Medicine Ecosystem
In 2016, recognising the potential for Scotland to become a ‘global centre of excellence’ in precision medicine, the Scottish Government announced funding of £4m to support the development of a Precision Medicine Ecosystem.
SMS-IC is at the heart of managing this ecosystem, providing potential partners with links to industry and the Scottish academic investigators, clinical specialists, and genomic and bioinformatics experts needed to carry out data-driven translational and clinical research. The Ecosystem brings together healthcare, life sciences and academic organisations who want to align their activities through partnership to deliver precision medicine programmes more efficiently and effectively.
The £20M Centre, which includes a next generation sequencing genetics laboratory and high throughout data centre, is one of the key drivers in the movement towards successfully delivering precision medicine, which is high on the immediate agenda of every healthcare provider, pharmaceutical company and international government across the globe today.
Dr Harbison is confident that precision medicine will become a common feature of healthcare.
"SMS-IC is bringing together leading experts from NHS Scotland, academia and industry to change the way we think about health problems and work towards more effective treatment. With a wealth of research excellence and the development of new technologies, I think we are at a golden age of precision medicine.”
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SMS-IC is based at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow
SMS-IC in action
Tackling non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
SMS-IC and Eagle Genomics Ltd have been awarded a £1.7M collaboration grant from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, to tackle non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the most common cause of chronic liver disease in the developed world.
NAFLD, an accumulation of excess fat in the liver of people who drink little or no alcohol, is strongly linked to type II diabetes and obesity. The disease affects 25% of the world’s population and there is no approved treatment.
The progressive form of NAFLD, known as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), usually precedes liver fibrosis, liver cancer and premature death. Early recognition of the disease, monitoring progression, and effective treatment in patients is urgently required in order to reduce deaths from end-stage liver disease.
The Innovate UK funding will be used to develop a unified data system that allows sharing of genomic (RNA-Seq) and clinical information from patients with NASH, making it more accessible for further research, creating a resource for patients, charities, clinicians and the research community.
As more data is added, the data system will evolve into a smarter, more comprehensive knowledge system that will assist important discoveries in chronic liver disease and increase the success of treatments for patients.
The project will involve genetic sequencing of 1000 liver biopsy samples from within the NHS Scotland’s biorepository network. The project is a great example of making most of this data in order to identify successful treatments and improve the ability to ensure each patient gets the right treatment.
A stratified approach to rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) currently affects 400,000 people in the UK, around 1% of the population. It causes joint pain, swelling and stiffness, affecting a patient’s mobility and interfering with their quality of life and ability to work. Patients may need long-term treatment to control their symptoms and reduce joint damage.
Although treatment options have improved in the last 20 years, the UK National Audit Office estimates that rheumatoid arthritis costs the NHS around £560 million every year. A significant part of this cost is down to failed treatments.
SMS-IC is working in partnership with Professor Iain McInnes from the University of Glasgow and clinicians from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde on a precision medicine project to improve treatments for those suffering from the disease.
Upon diagnoses of RA, the majority of patients are prescribed a medicine known as methotrexate (MTX). However, only 30-40% of patients respond sufficiently to the treatment. Others fail to respond or may suffer side effects such as nausea, vomiting or liver damage.
The project aims to develop a blood test to predict which patients will not respond well to MTX. This means they can bypass this treatment option and go straight to a different therapy.
Ultimately, the goal is to find the right treatment for the patient in a shorter time and treat the RA quickly and more effectively. This will save the NHS money by reducing the need for multiple appointments to work out the right medication for the patient.
Meet Dr Diane Harbison
Meet Dr Diane Harbison
Dr Diane Harbison is the CEO of the Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre (SMS-IC). Prior to joining SMS-IC she was the Managing Director at BioCity Scotland where she was instrumental in increasing site occupancy and achieving enterprise area status.
Diane has extensive experience of translating and commercialising early stage research from both an industry and academic perspective. She joined Edinburgh BioQuarter in November 2010 as Head of Business Development. Under her leadership, the business development team successfully established collaborations with many of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies including two DPAc collaborations with GSK and alliances with Lilly, Genzyme, Biogen and Astra Zeneca. Prior to joining Edinburgh BioQuarter, Diane was an Associate Director in Pfizer’s Research and Development (R&D) Business Development group. Diane has a PhD and a BSc in Molecular Biology from the University of Glasgow and a MBA from Henley Business School.