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Published online 31 December 2008 | Nature 457, 16 (2009) | doi:10.1038/457016d
News in Brief
Health organization lays plans for major biobank
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I'd be more impressed if Kaiser acted on already available discoveries, such as the ability to eliminate 90% of dialysis and kidney transplantation. Based on genomic epidemiology, this work was published in 2002 (1). Kaiser dismissed the work as inadequate, despite an n of 1,000 patients. Kaiser's Biobank is just one more example of something that sounds cutting-edge that will absorb lots of research dollars, but won't cut into revenues one iota. There's a lot of this going around--ever since the NIH abandoned clinical research in the 1960s.
Addendum to comment above: Reference 1: Moskowitz DW. From pharmacogenomics to improved patient outcomes: angiotensin I-converting enzyme as an example. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2002;4(4):519-32. PMID: 12396747. (For PDF file, click on paper #1 at: http://www.genomed.com/index.cfm?action=investor&drill=publications) ?this paper demonstrated that it was possible to reverse chronic kidney disease due to type 2 diabetes or hypertension; cases showing significant (~5 year) delay of emphysema and atherosclerotic peripheral vascular disease were also presented.