Letter to Thad Cochran, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Commission, Barbara Mikulski, Vice Chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Commission - Need for More Support for Precision Medicine

Letter

Dear Chairman Cochran and Vice Chairwoman Mikulski:

As you work on the Fiscal Year 2016 appropriations legislation for research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and regulatory improvements at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology (ONC), we ask that you provide the strongest level of funding possible for precision medicine, which holds the promise of revolutionizing the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

In 2003, the NIH and its international partners completed the mapping of the human genome--a scientific achievement equivalent to landing on the moon. The Human Genome Project jump-started the field of medical genomics and opened up new opportunities to improve how we care for patients.

In our home state, the Mayo Clinic has long been at the cutting edge of medical innovation. The Mayo Clinic's Center for Individualized Medicine is already an established leader in precision medicine -- health care tailored to a person's genes, environment and lifestyle.

Mayo's Breast Cancer Genome-Guided Therapy study is helping researchers and physicians better understand why chemotherapy is effective in treating breast cancer in some women, but fails in others. Mayo hopes to use this research to personalize therapy to women with breast cancer and ultimately transform the way we treat the disease. Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN is also home to a robust "biobank" with almost 50,000 samples that researchers can use to solve the mystery of many diseases.

The United States should remain on the cutting edge of health care innovation. Today we have the opportunity to build on the success of the Human Genome Project and lead the global effort to encourage scientific discovery and clinical implementation of precision medicine. This effort will require investment and leadership from the National Institutes of Health, the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, and the Food and Drug Administration.

With precision medicine, the health care of our future is closer than ever before. It will transform the way doctors provide care, making our health care system more efficient by providing improved, targeted treatments.

Thank you for considering this request. We look forward to working with you to ensure hope that the FY16 appropriations legislation reflects this critical national priority.

Sincerely,

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