Phase 3 of S’pore’s gene-mapping effort to enrol 400,000 by 2031

Data collected will help researchers tailor precision medicine treatments for patients

- Joyce Teo Senior Health Correspondent

Singapore has launched the third phase of its national programme to map genomes for preventive, personalised treatments, to gather data from 400,000 to 450,000 patients recruited directly from healthcare settings.

Precision medicine is a targeted approach to disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual differences in genes, environments and lifestyles.

Running from 2025 to 2031, phase three of the National Precision Medicine (NPM) programme will enrol patients with a wide range of health conditions, enabling researchers to study how genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors interact in real-world clinical settings.

This will deepen the understanding of disease progression, enabling them to tailor treatment and customise care for each patient.

Having a large sample size will help with the detection of rare diseases and less common genetic variants in the population.

"We must move from a system that reacts to illness to one that predicts and prevents it - and ultimately preserves health," Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said at the launch at Marina One West Tower on Nov 14.

"When the deep biological insights of genomics are combined with the predictive power of AI plus the policies of preventive care and population health, we transform the healthcare system in a very fundamental way," he said.