Genomic sequencing has helped Hong Kong identify the right treatments for cancer patients more quickly, according to an expert who also suggested that the city could be a “super-linker” between mainland China and the rest of the world in drug development.
Aya El Helali, a clinician-scientist in medical oncology at the University of Hong Kong, praised how collaboration within the Greater Bay Area had opened up opportunities to run clinical trials faster and at lower costs – factors that appealed to global pharmaceutical companies.
The use of genomic medicine, which examines a person’s genetic information to tailor healthcare, could help to not only diagnose rare diseases but also determine the effectiveness of medications.
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“We’re allowing all patients to have access to potential therapies that might affect their survival,” said El Helali, who spoke in a sideline interview at the International Symposium on Genomic Medicine in Hong Kong last month.
El Helali, a clinical assistant professor with HKU’s department of clinical oncology, said the use of genomic sequencing had significantly shortened the time needed to identify suitable treatments for brain cancer patients to just one or two years – compared with the traditional approach that took five to 10 years.
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Sharing her research on patients with glioblastoma, the most aggressive type of brain cancer, which was “very difficult to treat”, the doctor said in-depth genomic sequencing was performed on patients’ tumours to find the specific “keyhole” that a new drug could target.