Work

Financing and health system capacity for precision medicine in Asia: a six country landscape analysis

Year: 2026

Type: review

Abstract: Background: Precision medicine (PM) adoption is accelerating across Asia, but implementation remains uneven due to differences in financing, infrastructure, governance, and health-system readiness. Objectives: To examine how six Asian countries (Singapore, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia) adopt, finance, and integrate PM technologies, and identify common implementation patterns and challenges. Methods: A landscape review of peer-reviewed literature, government publications, and HTA reports (2010-2026) was conducted, supplemented by stakeholder consultations. PM applications were grouped into public health screening (hereditary breast and ovarian cancer [HBOC] and familial hypercholesterolemia [FH] cascade testing), next-generation sequencing (NGS) applications (rare diseases, oncology, pharmacogenomics), and AI-enabled PM. Evidence was synthesized across access, awareness, reimbursement, and implementation. Results: Public health genomic screening demonstrated the highest implementation readiness, followed by precision oncology, while rare disease diagnostics remained infrastructure-dependent and pharmacogenomics and AI-enabled PM platforms were at earlier stages. Four readiness profiles emerged: highly aligned systems; reimbursement-constrained systems with strong governance and infrastructure; systems strengthening governance, public financing and infrastructure; and strategy-led systems expanding implementation through pilot programs and referral centers. Conclusions: PM implementation across Asia remains heterogeneous. The identified readiness profiles highlight governance, financing, and infrastructure priorities for sustainable and equitable PM diffusion.

Source: Health Affairs Scholar

DOI: 10.1093/haschl/qxag238