Anthony Browne is MP for South Cambridgeshire, the Chair of the Conservative backbench Treasury Committee, and a member of the Treasury Select Committee.
Last week, I saw the future of medicine, and it gurgled at me.
Baby Oliver, just four months old, has had his life transformed by new technology that is so revolutionary that, in a few decades, our children are likely to look back at today’s medicine as we look back at the medicine of the Middle Ages.
The science of genomics has the power to enhance all our lives, cure previously untreatable diseases, and eradicate cancer as a cause of death. It is science in which the UK is genuinely world-leading – not just talking about being a science super-power, but actually being one, acknowledged by the rest of the world. But we do not have that position by right, and Government needs a strategy to ensure we stay ahead.
Baby Oliver was born with a six centimetre tumour, which normal tests indicated was cancerous. He was on the brink of embarking on radical cancer treatment, which would likely have left him with lifelong medical conditions, including infertility.
But Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in my constituency, did whole genome sequencing of the tumour, which was the only way to diagnose it so accurately that it could be shown to be benign. The cancer treatment was unnecessary, and he was saved from the lifelong medical consequences.
Genomics offers the possibility of what is known as precision medicine, or personalised medicine. By doing a full genome sequencing of both a tumour and the patient, doctors can diagnose precisely what type of cancer it is.
But more importantly, they can prescribe the exact treatment that will cure that precise cancer in patients with that genetic profile. It is driven forwards by big data, with powerful artificial intelligence interpreting it to make sure the right lessons are learnt. At the moment, medical treatments are often hit and miss, one size fits all, which is why doctors have to try a series of them until they find something that might work, or not.
Precision medicine has the potential to be truly game-changing, providing the next big advance in our fight with cancer. It is the equivalent of replacing heavy artillery with a sniper rifle. Chemotherapy destroys everything in its path, including healthy cells, taking a big toll on patients. Precision treatments will be prescribed based on the biomarkers of the tumour, making the most of existing drugs and helping to discover new drugs.
At an event I hosted in Parliament last week to promote the new Cambridge Children’s Hospital and the new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, Jess Mills, the daughter of Tessa Jowell, described movingly how doctors said there was nothing they could do to save her mother when she was diagnosed with a brain tumour. She is now campaigning for precision medicine to ensure others are never left in that position.
Ever since the first genome was sequenced in 2003 by the Human Genome Project, we have been tantalised by the promise of precision medicine, but it is only now being put into practice. The UK was the first to sequence the genomes of 100,000 people – and we are now onto 500,000. Addenbrookes is the only hospital in the country to offer full genome sequencing of all children suspected to have cancer, but others will follow. Seven NHS hospitals do genome sequencing of tumours to accurately diagnose them.
This has been made possible by the collapsing cost of sequencing. It took the Human Genome Project 13 years and $2.7 billion dollars to sequence the first human genome.
The company Illumina, in my constituency, has 80 per cent of the global market in sequencers, and now manufactures devices that can sequences someone’s genome for £500 in less than 24 hours. It has already launched a device, which will be delivered next year, that will sequence three times faster and cost £175 a test. They have ambitions to reach £100 a test in the next couple of years.
Down the road, at the Wellcome Genome Campus, which made the largest single contribution to the Human Genome Project, there are warehouses full of sequencers driving forwards the revolution. At one point during the pandemic, this single institute had done more genome sequencing of the Covid virus, tracking the different variants, than the rest of the world put together.
Life science companies are investing billions to be at the forefront of this revolution. Three quarters of those diagnosed with cancer used to die from it. Now it is half. The Government has an objective of only a quarter. But at the Parliamentary event I hosted, Ruth March from AstraZeneca explained how precision medicine meant we could eradicate all deaths from cancer in her lifetime.
There have been some fantastic breakthroughs, such as Novartis’ chimeric antigen receptor therapy (Car-T). The treatment involves extracting a patient’s white blood cells (T-cells) and re-engineering them in a laboratory to identify and attack cancer cells, before then being infused back into the body. It is incredibly effective for blood cancer victims, hitherto untreatable. Some of the most stubborn cases are now in complete remission.
Our genomic capabilities are the envy of the world, offering huge benefits not just to patients, but to our economy. The life sciences sector is one of the key engines for economic growth in the UK, and will increasingly become more important as society becomes wealthier and older. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) estimates that it could contribute an extra £68 billion to the economy over the next 30 years.
But the Government must support the industry to make sure we stay a world leader. The Cell and Gene Therapy Collective is an association of life science companies and charities that have come together to push the genomics agenda, and have developed a set of recommendations.
First off, there should be a Minister responsible for cell and gene therapies to drive forward implementation across the NHS, and to oversee a government-wide strategy. At present, many different parts of Government touch on genomics, but they need to be co-ordinated. Additionally, we need new payment methods for treatments to recognise the life-long benefits of precision medicine – this has been done by the French government which doctors here believe will give them a research advantage.
It is crucial that we reduce red tape and make the UK a competitive place to conduct clinical research. The NHS, as a comprehensive health system, gives a huge head start for clinical trials, but we must ensure that set up times and recruitment of trials are globally competitive. We were the first county to regulate the use of Car-T therapy and we must continue to be pioneers.
By supporting precision medicine, the Government can fulfil two of its ambitions of being a global science superpower and improving cancer survival rates as part of the 10-Year Cancer Plan. Nurturing a fertile environment for life sciences to invest in precision medicine, underpinned by a strong genomics sector, will be vital to achieving that. We must not let genomics be another example where the UK lead on developing the science, but fell behind on using it.