Precision medicine is defined by the European Commission as a medical approach that uses the unique phenotypes and genotypes of individuals to enable doctors and researchers to more accurately predict which treatment and prevention strategies work in specific groups of people.

Innovation in this field occurs in small-scale environments such as laboratories and requires significant time in product development and testing before it can be made available to the mass market. Companies typically need a few years to reach a clinical trial stage.

By connecting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) harnessing the power of genomics to advance precision medicine and first-class healthcare providers, the partnership will breakdown the usual barriers to innovation in the field. The SMEs supported by P4’s accelerator programme will benefit from access to interested patients and award-winning facilities of Nuffield Health. This will enable the precision medicine companies to receive direct feedback from patients as they develop their innovations, resulting in more personalised and community-focused healthcare. 

Nathan McNally, P4 Co-Founder, said: “The partnership between P4 Precision Medicine Accelerator and Nuffield Health signifies a landmark milestone in precision medicine innovation in the UK. The partnership builds on our vision to create an ecosystem for precision medicine to scale, accelerating the innovative pathway from research to clinical care.

"Our goal is to enable patients to receive the best possible predictive, preventive, and personalised care by harnessing the potential of personalised medicine - in particular in the area of genomics. This has led P4 to significantly alter the healthcare landscape in 2020 alone, supporting our portfolio companies to establish collaborations with high profile organisations such as Genomics England and Great Ormond Street Hospital.” 

Chris Blackwell-Frost, Nuffield Health’s Chief Strategy Officer, commented: “Our purpose is to build a healthier nation and we are dedicated to helping people live healthily, get better and stay well through personalised connected health services. Our strategic partnership with P4’s Precision Medicine Accelerator programme will enhance our ability to clinically innovate across our 31 hospitals across the UK and treat the individual patient rather than just symptoms.

"Personalised and precision medicine has never been so important. This strategic partnership has the potential to improve the discovery of the underlying genetic causes of diseases, helping us to deliver precision medicine for our patients faster which will improve their health outcomes.”