Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Funds, Markets and Companies, Medicine

The Estonian minister of health and labor, Riina Sikkut, said that the project is closely connected with the taking of genome samples.

"Estonian residents have already been very good at giving genome samples. Last year, 105,000 genome samples were added to the 52,000 samples gathered in previous years, and 13,000 samples have been collected this year already. All told, we are nearing one-fifth of the population, and now the question is how to use this information and how to link it back to the people," Sikkut said according to spokespeople. 

The IT development financed by the European Regional Development Fund will be implemented in stages.

"One, for instance, has to do with the drug interactions database and adding also genome information to it so that the prescription issued to the person, be it about cardiac medication or medication against depression, was for a drug which suits them and takes into account their genome information. And also for the amount of the drug to be such which is not meant for the average person, but is bigger or smaller depending on the specifics of their body," Sikkut said. 

According to the minister, the project also addresses so-called risk scores, which means that if the genome information garnered about the person indicates a major risk of a disease in the person, that information will be forwarded to the health information database where doctors can use it in making decisions about treatment.