Qatar ahead in implementing precision medicine

“Qatar is one of the few countries progressing towards implementing precision medicine,” explained Dr Said Ismail, manager, QGP.

“Qatar Genome Programme, in its pilot phase, was started in September 2015. In the first phase, we have sequenced 3,000 samples and we will finish sequencing 6,000 genomes hopefully by June this year,” he told a press conference.

Dr Asmaa al-Thani, vice chair of Qatar Biobank and chairperson of QGP and Dr Nahla Afifi, acting director of Qatar Biobank were also present. Dr Afifi announced that the Qatar Biobank Conference will be held on March 14 and 15.

“With a growth in the number of individuals being diagnosed with life-threatening yet preventable diseases worldwide, biomedical scientists are now pursuing new advanced methods to tackle diseases and optimise treatment. Equipped with biomedical information through Qatar Genome Programme, it will be possible to develop better prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease, obesity, cancer, diabetes and a wide range of other serious illnesses for future generations in Qatar,” said Dr Asma.

“Qatar Biobank has collected over 6,000 samples form Qatari nationals and longtime residents in Qatar so far. We will announce the results of the analysis of the first 6,000 participants in the Qatar Biobank programme. It will reveal more about the life style as well as the diseases that we found during the sequencing,” noted Dr Afifi.

“Also to be revealed are findings about the types of the diseases which will help the decision makers to design awareness programmes to prevent such diseases. Mainly diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and Vitamin D deficiency are preventable and the finding will help the officials to take appropriate decisions,” she continued.

According to Dr Ismail, precision medicine is a new era of medicine. “Through the Qatar Genome Programme, we will be able to understand the genetic background and the effect of the treatment to prescribe Precision Medicine. It will enable specific medicine for specific person according to the findings of the programme,” he explained.

Dr Ismail revealed that QGP has several other initiatives. “We have other activities including initiating MSc programmes in genomic medicine and genetic counselling. We have also plans for forming a research network across Qatar to start looking into the huge amount of data to identify the main features of the Qatar Genome programme. We hope to design diagnostic approaches that will fit for the population.”