Sen. Barack Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, has introduced a bill entitled, ‘Genomics and Personalized Medicine Act of 2006’ (see press release). According to Sen. Obama, this bill “…will help scientists tap the power of genomics to find treatments for diseases that afflict millions of Americans each year.” He notes that the completion of the Human Genome Project has led to the goal of personalised medicines for individuals. This could be realised through pharmacogenomic studies of how genes affect how a person responds to drugs. In order to support these initiatives, Sen. Obama’s bill would allocate $150 million (~£79 million) for research to collect genetic data to advance genomics and personalised medicine research. Specific research areas listed in the bill include systematic review and synthesis of the results of population-based studies and comprehensive studies of the clinical utility of molecular genetic tests and therapeutics. The bill recommends a national biobanking research initiative and a national biobanking distributed database to facilitate the pooled analysis of the genomic and associated environmental and clinical data collected. The bill calls for improvement in the current oversight and regulation of genetic tests, including investigation into direct-to-consumer marketing of tests. It seeks a definition for race and ethnicity for use in genomic research and looks to increase access to pharmacogenomic and other clinical genetic services for minority populations. The bill ends stating that the ‘sense’ of the US Senate is that personalised medicine can only be successful if individuals are protected from discrimination based on the results of genetic tests and calls for “…adequate privacy protections, including a Federal prohibition against genetic discrimination…” to be put in place.
The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Finance; there is no indication when it will be placed on an agenda for further discussion.