Precision medicine in Asia enhanced by next-generation sequencing: Implications for Thailand through a scoping review and interview study

Abstract

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) significantly enhances precision medicine (PM) by offering personalized approaches to diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of unmet medical needs. Little is known about the current situation of PM in Asia. Thus, we aimed to conduct an overview of the progress and gaps in PM in Asia and enrich it with in-depth insight into the possibilities of future PM in Thailand. This scoping review focused on Asian countries starting with non-cancer studies, including rare and undiagnosed diseases (RUDs), non-communicable diseases (NCDs), infectious diseases (IDs), and pharmacogenomics, with a focus on NGS. Subsequent in-depth interviews with experts in Thailand were performed, and a thematic analysis served as the main qualitative methodology. Out of 2898 searched articles, 387 studies were included after the review. Although most of the studies focused on cancer, 89 (23.0%) studies were related to RUDs (17.1%), NCDs (2.8%), IDs (1.8%), and pharmacogenomics (1.3%). Apart from medicine and related sciences, the studies were mostly composed of PM (61.8%), followed by genetics medicine and bioinformatics. Interestingly, 28% of articles were conducted exclusively within the fields of medicine and related sciences, emphasizing interdisciplinary integration. The experts emphasized the need for sustainability-driven political will, nurturing collaboration, reinforcing computational infrastructure, and expanding the bioinformatic workforce. In Asia, developments of NGS have made remarkable progress in PM. Thailand has extended PM beyond cancer and focused on clinical implementation. We summarized the PM challenges, including equity and efficiency targeting, guided research funding, sufficient sample size, integrated collaboration, computational infrastructure, and sufficient trained human resources.