649scientists working in laboratory genetics. Starting in 2009, the program has funded
24 pilot training posts for 12 trainee Healthcare Science Practitioners and 12
Healthcare Scientists in Genetics. These trainees are being based in a number of
NHS genetics departments throughout England, and they will meet for national
training events. The pilot will have four components and goals including establish-
ing a national School of Genetics in the West Midlands; modernizing the genetics
curricula to respond to breakthrough scientifi c advances and their applications for
patients and the public; responding to future workforce needs to keep up with dis-
coveries from the last decade about how to diagnose and predict disease; informing
other healthcare science training programs that began in 2010 and were imple-
mented in 2012. This initiative by the NHS makes UK a promising place to intro-
duce personalized medicine.
Personalized Medicine in Germany
Next to UK, Germany has the most activity for the development of personalized
medicine in Europe. German academic institutions have been active in genomic
research for several years. There are several programs in pharmacogenomics and
pharmacogenetics. Germany has more medical diagnostic and personalized medi-
cine companies than any other country in the EU with the exception of
UK. Government support of personalized medicine is exemplifi ed by the grants
given to promote research and development in personalized medicine. In 2010,
Government of Nordrhein-Westfalen gave grants worth €25 million ($35 million)
to 9 research consortia for personalized medicine. The state will gain €1.3 billion
by 2013 from EFRE-Fund of the EU. Benefi ciaries of these grants will be networks
of universities, research institutes, and biotechnology companies. These include
Ruhr- University Bochum, University Klinic Essen, University of Cologne,
University of Bielefeld, Association for Advancement of Analytical Sciences,
Lead Discovery Center GmbH, Life & Brain GmbH, and Miltenyi Biotec. Research
topics will include new techniques of diagnosis, effective therapies to improve
patient care and search for biomarkers of diseases such as cancer, liver disease,
Alzheimer disease and arteriosclerosis. Cell-based therapies and stem cell research
are also included.
The German Ministry for Education and Research ran a contest for excellence
and a cluster of personalized companies, Bio M , in Munich won a prize of €40 mil-
lion as research grants. This prize will be matched by donations of equal amounts
from the industry and the state government of Bavaria. The cluster of companies has
set up 40 collaborations and seven projects to bridge the gap between the industry
and the academia. The most important proposal is formation of a center, M4, for
personalized medicine where companies could carry out phase I and phase II clini-
cal trials with an aim to gain approval for 50 products within the next decade. The
M4 center will also house a tissue bank, where local companies will have access to
blood and tissue samples for research.
Global Scope of Personalized Medicine