SCIENTISTS in Glasgow could be as little as five years away from a revolutionary breakthrough in new medicine to treat cancer patients.
The city has been chosen as a new regional Precision Medicine Catapult to develop the next generation of drugs for chronic illness.
Doctors at the new Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and researchers from Glasgow University are working together on developing new stratified medicines where drugs are tailored to individual DNA.
And one of the lead academics on the project said patients could be treated with new drugs as early as the end of this decade.
The announcement of regional hub status was made today by Science Minister Jo Johnson who was in the city to carry out the ground breaking ceremony for the new £16m Imaging Centre of Excellence at the hospital.
Mr Johnson said the city was perfectly positioned to take advantage of developments in life science and was leading the way with a “triple helix” approach with the NHS, academia and pharmaceutical industry working together on the project.
Anna Dominiczak, head of Glasgow University’s College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences said a breakthrough could be close.
She said: “We think for cancer we might be ready to help patients in five years. Maybe between five and ten years.”
While Glasgow is at the forefront, Prof Dominiczak said that Scotland’s four medical schools were all working towards the same goal which has the potential to transform medicine.
The team working on the project believe the city and the west of Scotland had the most to gain from the new approach.
Prof Dominiczak, said: “Precision medicine is about treating people efficaciously, good treatment without side effects.
“Just now it is trial and error medicine, this applies to all chronic diseases.
“We will select the drug on the basis of knowing the DNA structure. This is a revolution in medicine.”
The focus will be on cancer, cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure all conditions which have a high prevalence in Glasgow and the west of Scotland.
The professor added: “If we harness this precision medicine ability, the benefit will be greater in Scotland than elsewhere.”
Mr Johnson said: “The UK is a world leader in the life sciences and that’s in no small part thanks to innovative firms and academics in Glasgow.
“The Glasgow centre of excellence will join with a network of researchers across the country to develop precision medicine technologies that will save lives and support growth in our world-class life science industry.”
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