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Diaceutics PLC

Diaceutics forms landmark industry Forum to address the economic barriers preventing patient access to life-changing precision medicines

Belfast and London, 19 March 2024 - Diaceutics PLC (AIM: DXRX), a leading technology and solutions provider to the pharma and biotech industry, announces the establishment of its Precision Medicine Practice Gaps Economic, Policy and Operational Solutions Forum, aiming to urgently address the specific economic gaps limiting the advancement of precision medicine and to enable every patient to get the treatment they deserve.

Co-chaired by Susanne Munksted, Chief Precision Medicine Officer at Diaceutics, and Denny Van Liew, Board Member Emeritus at the Precision Medicine Coalition (PMC) and veteran Solution Architect and Life Sciences Senior Advisor at Red Nucleus, the Forum is composed of leading experts in precision medicine across multiple stakeholders, each bringing extensive experience and insights from their careers.  

The solutions and recommendations proposed by the Forum will be shared and opened for discussion at a virtual global summit on May 1^st, providing a unique opportunity for all members of the precision medicine community to contribute to the culminating white paper recommendations and play a role in shaping the future of precision medicine.

Susanne Munksted, Chief Precision Medicine Officer of Diaceutics, commented, "From our long-standing central position within the precision medicine industry, connecting pharma, labs and patients, we have amassed a wealth of data. Our analysis of this data has enabled us to identify 7 practice gaps that are holding back the uptake of precision medicine, and running through all of them is an economic thread. The industry collectively needs to make precision medicine more economically viable, to ensure that every patient gets the treatment they deserve. The Forum brings together key voices in the industry to collaborate on a best way forward, for all."

Background to the Forum's formation

In 2022, research undertaken by Diaceutics and The Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC) and published in The Journal of Clinical Oncology Precision Oncology (JCO) highlighted that 64.4% of advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients in the US may not receive the best treatment for their disease and identified 7 Clinical Practice Gaps limiting patient access to precision medicine.

Daryl Pritchard, Precision Medicine Coalition's Senior Vice President, Science Policy, commented, "The technologies, clinical practices, and financial incentives needed to successfully deliver high-quality health care in the era of personalised medicine differ substantially in comparison to what was needed during decades characterised by less sophisticated approaches."

"If the economic challenges providers face in adopting personalised medicine are left unaddressed, patients will suffer as high-value personalised medicine technologies will needlessly be left on the shelf."

Sarah Hersey, Vice President of Precision Medicine at Bristol-Myers Squibb and member of the Forum, stated, "This forum will serve as a healthy discourse to address the root complexities surrounding precision medicine and economic barriers. Together, the precision medicine community can identify possible solutions to close the clinical care gaps and help increase access to effective treatments for patients in need."

"Those of us operating in precision medicine have been aware of the stealthy influence which economics have had on patient testing in precision medicine. This has not always been for the better. Revisiting the 2022 Clinical Practice Gaps research with a deeper focus on the economic barriers preventing patients receiving optimized targeted treatments has brought insightful discussion amongst the Forum members. It was rewarding to see how informed we all were on the real-world issues and how aligned we could be on the potential solutions to positively impact patients."

Denny Van Liew, Board Member Emeritus at the PMC and veteran Solution Architect and Life Sciences Senior Advisor at Red Nucleus, adds, "The passion amongst the Forum members demonstrates there is ambition to overcome the economic challenges which exist and support the wider precision medicine industry by providing practical recommendations and guidance on future policy development. I welcome everyone across precision medicine to join the discussion in May and to offer their input into this important paper."

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About the virtual summit

Attendees at the summit will have exclusive access to a virtual conference hall hosting relevant economic papers analysed by Forum members along with gaining first access to a white paper summary of the Forum's recommendations. The summit is free to attend and will consist of expert panel discussions with Forum members and the opportunity for direct Q&A and voting on key recommendations.

Forum Members

About Diaceutics

At Diaceutics we believe that every patient should get the opportunity to receive the right test and the right therapy to positively impact their disease outcome.

 We provide the world's leading pharma and biotech companies with an end-to-end commercialisation solution for precision medicines through data analytics, scientific and advisory services enabled by our platform DXRX - The Diagnostics Network ®