Federal Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq

OTTAWA – Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq unveiled on January 31^st the federal government’s $67.5 million investment that aims to help Canadians get more effective treatment and make the healthcare system more sustainable through genetics-based personalized medicine.

“The potential to understand a person’s genetic makeup and the specific character of their illness in order to best determine their treatment will significantly improve the quality of life for patients and their families and may show us the way to an improved health care system and even save costs in certain circumstances,” Minister Aglukkaq said.

Personalized medicine promises the potential to transform the delivery of healthcare to patients by evolving from what the current government calls a reactive “one-size-fits-all” system towards a system of predictive, preventive and more precise care.