Precision medicine demands a repository for patient data

A pan-EU database would transform clinical trials. Horizon Europe should commit to building one, say Colm O’Morain and colleagues.

Precision medicine promises tailored disease treatments based on knowledge of an individual’s genes, environment and lifestyle. It offers clinicians the possibility of predicting which treatment and prevention strategies will work for which people.

This approach offers an alternative to the one-size-fits-all model that has guided drug development and regulation to date. But implementing it requires a new approach to clinical trials, centred on individualised patient care rather than drug development. This in turn requires the creation of a pan-European infrastructure for patient data.