GE Healthcare said it plans to dedicate $1 billion of its total research and development (R&D) budget over the next five years to expand its advanced cancer diagnostic and molecular imaging capabilities.

The GE's health business pointed out that the funds will help the company develop its technologies for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals and for cancer research.

The recently announced investment commitment reflects the needs of the healthcare sector across the world, and in the Middle East, which today faces the twin challenges of rising healthcare bills and the growing incidence of lifestyle diseases. 

According to recent reports, the prevalence of diabetes, cardiovascular ailments and certain forms of cancer are increasing in the Mena region, while healthcare expenditure as a per cent of the GDP is relatively low, underlining the need for greater private sector collaboration in driving healthcare research.

The $1 billion global investment crosses all lines of GE Healthcare’s global business and is an example of the company’s commitment to fighting cancer.

The investment will enable the company to bring innovative tools to market, unleashing technologies that can improve the accuracy of diagnosis to potentially enable more effective treatment decisions and empower doctors and patients with better information.

According to World Health Organization data, cancer rates could increase globally by 50 percent, leading to 15 million new cases in 2020.

From a clinical standpoint, the rapid increase in targeted and patient-specific cancer therapies is driving demand for molecular diagnostics.

Aziz Koleilat, general manager at GE Healthcare for the Middle East region, said: 'Extraordinary things can happen when you apply imagination to solve big problems. Such is the case with groundbreaking initiatives such as healthymagination – GE’s commitment to help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost.'

'We remain committed to continuing to invest in invention with a focus on better patient outcomes,' he noted.

Koleilat said the only way GE can help clinicians beat cancer was to give them the tools to find it earlier, stage it better, and quantitatively measure response to therapy.

'The integration of GE Healthcare’s expertise in imaging, analytics, diagnostics, cellular analysis, and healthcare IT will help create technologies and solutions that can be used across the region – which ultimately benefits the patient,' he added.

GE Healthcare already offers a wide portfolio for oncology and a strategy that combines cellular research, medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and information technology.-TradeArabia News Service