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DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) is participating in the USA Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) Cohort Program.
WBA said its participation is the result of a $20 million grant awarded to The Scripps Research Institute by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Walgreens will help support patient enrollment and participation in the cohort program through its daily interactions with more than 8 million customers in stores, online and through its mobile app.
The award will total almost $120 million over five years and is part of President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative, which is said to be one of the most ambitious medical research programs in the history of American medicine and is aimed at revolutionizing how researchers, providers and research participants work together to develop individualized care.
The PMI Cohort Program is a longitudinal research effort that aims to engage 1 million or more participants to improve the ability of preventing and treating disease based on individual differences in lifestyle, environment and genetics.
Participants will share their health history and status, as well as their genomic and other biological information, and will grant access to their clinical data from electronic health records. In addition, mobile health devices and apps will provide lifestyle data and environmental exposures in real time. The knowledge gained from the program is expected to extend the successes of precision medicine in some cancers to other diseases.
“As a trusted health care resource to the millions of customers and patients we see every day, Walgreens will help launch this important program that can lead to delivering the right treatments at the right time to help people live longer, happier and healthier lives,” said WBA co-chief operating officer Alex Gourlay. “Our participation is an example of how Walgreens Boots Alliance can contribute to public-private partnerships to pioneer precision medicine and other digital health advances.”
Walgreens will offer customers enrollment in the program at its stores, its Healthcare Clinics and Walgreens.com and through the Walgreens mobile app.
