The Beyond 1 Million Genomes (B1MG) consortium will establish the support and coordination structure for the European 1+ Million Genomes initiative (1+MG), which is based upon the commitment of 22 EU countries, the UK and Norway and that have signed the ‘Towards access to at least 1 million sequenced genomes in the EU by 2022’. With France, Ireland, Poland, Switzerland as observers. Collectively, these countries have committed to establishing a cross-border federated network of national genome collections associated with phenotypic data, consented to advance health and medicine practices across Europe. Europe is uniquely placed to take on this challenge and position itself as a global leader in this field.
B1MG will go ‘beyond’ the 1M genome target and ‘beyond’ the 24 signatory countries. The project will collaborate with an array of international initiatives and consult a range of key stakeholders to support the creation of a pan-European genome-based health data infrastructure, encompassing data quality and exchange standards, access protocols and legal guidance. Recommendations will be translated to a B1MG maturity level model that provides concrete guidance on the steps required to implement personalised medicine, a healthcare approach that considers a person’s genetic makeup at a local, regional and national scale. Personalised medicine brings significant socio-economic benefits, including more efficient national health systems. Faster and more accurate diagnosis, pharmacogenomics development, and the advancement of preventative medicine will lead to better health, patient quality of life, and increased life expectancy. This will be captured in a methodology for economic evaluation, forming the basis of future business cases for implementation in the health sector
