UK's NHS and Genomics England to use genome sequencing to identify rare diseases in babies
Baby
An expert has predicted that within five years, rare diseases in children would be much easier to spot.Professor Matt Brown, the Chief Scientific Officer at Genomics England has predicted that very soon parents will be able to have it checked if their baby is at a higher risk of illnesses. He said that for this, parents could have their children’s genetic code read by the NHS.
Currently, each year, about 3,000 children in Britain are born with rare conditions and on average it takes up to five years, countless tests and visits to doctors for them to get a diagnosis. The delays can cause irreparable damage, which, thanks to this genome, sequencing could be avoided.
Last month, Genomic England and NHS announced the ‘Newborn Genomes Programme’. The pilot scheme which was announced last month will sequence the genomes of 100,000 babies over the next two years.
As per the vision document, if the £105 million ($128.2 million) pilot is successful, it will be added to the NHS routine care. However, Brown remarked that the programme would never be compulsory and people will have to consent to have their baby’s genome sequenced by NHS.
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Currently, whole genome sequencing (WGS) as per Daily Mail costs the NHS £800 ($978) to £1,000 ($1,223) every time, however with the programme it would cost around £150 ($183).
(With inputs from agencies)
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