TTSH and life sciences firm to deliver advanced multiple-gene testing

Their clinical research will help lessen testing costs.

Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) is working with Thermo Fisher Scientific to facilitate clinical research for the future prediction, prevention and research of diseases, and improve understanding of adverse responses to medication and therapeutics or pharmacogenomics (PGx).

“By examining the role genes play in a person’s response to medication, PGx testing can help clinicians make more informed decisions when evaluating suitable treatments for patients in the future,” read the joint statement.

Currently, TTSH already offers reactive single-gene pharmacogenetic and small-panel tests but the “results only apply to one drug (or a group of related drugs) per gene tested, which leads to multiple genes tests being ordered to determine broader drug-gene associations and potentially unnecessary higher costs.” 

This partnership will allow “simultaneous assessment of multiple genes and the implementation of polygenic risk scores (PRS) — a measure of disease risk based on an individual’s genetic information.” 

It will also lessen the need for multiple tests and may reduce associated costs from single-gene testing.