From precision medicine to AI: what’s next for diagnostics?

Colin Hill, Chief Commercial Officer at LGC’s Diagnostics and Genomics Division, has seen technologies evolve, markets expand and healthcare challenges become increasingly complex over a career spanning almost 30 years. Yet despite this ongoing change, three priorities have remained constant: quality, usability and value. Today, as genomics and artificial intelligence reshape healthcare, Colin talks about how these fundamentals matter more than ever.

Three unchanging market drivers

The trends in the market for diagnostics and genomics continue to evolve, but three customer needs have been relatively consistent throughout my career.

1. Quality – of product and performance – remains paramount. While organisations may define quality differently, reliable performance and confidence in results are non-negotiables.
2. Customers need workflows that simplify processes, improve usability and ultimately drive better outcomes.
3. Economics will always matter. Healthcare providers and laboratories are continually being asked to do more with less, making the balance between price and value a critical consideration.

Precision medicine: decades in the making

Precision medicine may seem like a modern concept, but the ambition behind it has been discussed for five, six, even seven decades: how can we use diagnostics – whether laboratory diagnostics or imaging diagnostics – to improve patient outcomes?

The goal is to provide clinicians with better information, enabling more informed treatment decisions and ultimately improving patient care.

Importantly, there are already several areas where this approach has demonstrated real success.

Learning lessons from microbiology and virology

Two fields have shown the power of diagnostics-driven healthcare transformation. The first is in microbiology, particularly in antimicrobial resistance and stewardship, where diagnostics help determine the most effective use of available antibiotics.

The second is in the virology space. Diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C have demonstrated how diagnostic information can guide treatment decisions, monitor response to therapy and improve long-term patient outcomes by giving physicians the critical data and insights they needed to better treat and manage patients.

The genomics era

We are now entering what I consider to be the third era of precision medicine: genomics.

Particularly in oncology, genomic testing has advanced significantly over the past decade. One of the most promising developments is minimal residual disease (MRD) testing, which has the potential to transform cancer monitoring in much the same way viral load testing transformed HIV management.

By measuring disease clearance and treatment effectiveness, clinicians may increasingly be able to tailor therapies to individual patients and make more informed decisions throughout the treatment journey.

Quality control: more important than ever

As genomic testing becomes more sophisticated, quality management must remain at the centre of these newly developed tests. LGC has a specific role to play in this, but the materials themselves are critical.

From the moment a sample is collected through to the delivery of a result, every step of the process needs appropriate controls and validation. Laboratories must be confident that their methods are producing results that are:

• Accurate
• Precise
• Consistent
• Reproducible
• Harmonised across testing environments

Without this foundation, the promise of precision medicine cannot be fully realised.

Building confidence through standardisation

The quality of patient outcomes depends on the quality of diagnostic methods.

This is where robust standards, controls and reference materials play a vital role. By helping laboratories validate and verify test performance, organisations such as LGC contribute to greater confidence in diagnostic results – the patient receives the most accurate diagnosis possible, and the physician is armed with trusted data that support better treatment decision-making.

The challenge of adopting new technologies

New technologies have always underpinned the diagnostics industry, and innovation has always been central to diagnostic advancement.

However, successful adoption requires more than simply introducing new technologies. New platforms and tests must demonstrate that they:

• Deliver clinically meaningful results
• Improve patient outcomes
• Support healthcare professionals in decision-making
• Offer a measurable health economic benefit

It’s only when these criteria are met that innovations can be scaled successfully across healthcare systems.

AI’s potential to transform diagnostics

AI has caused a major buzz across all industries and all environments. In healthcare in particular, it is one of the most-discussed technologies, with the potential to use generative and agentic AI to support from diagnosis through to outcomes.

Its potential impact on diagnostics is significant. One of the most immediate benefits lies in clinical decision support. Physicians have a difficult job because of the wide range of diseases they’re required to diagnose and manage successfully. By drawing on vast knowledge bases and analysing complex data, AI-powered tools can help physicians reach confident decisions more efficiently.

The goal is not to replace clinical judgement, but to strengthen it.

Research and development – AI’s expanding role

AI is also accelerating how we discover and develop new diagnostic capabilities, with researchers increasingly using it to identify new targets, new capabilities and new molecules that are relevant to the detection and management of disease. It is speeding up development processes – while these applications are still evolving, the pace of progress continues to increase and the timeframe required to bring new innovations to market is beginning to shrink.

Unlocking diagnostic data’s power

A third area of opportunity lies in the analysis of large-scale diagnostic datasets.

Every patient generates a wealth of health information over their lifetime. When analysed collectively and longitudinally, these datasets can reveal patterns that improve our understanding of disease risk, disease progression and treatment outcomes.

The ability to identify these predictive signals may significantly enhance future healthcare delivery.

LGC’s role in shaping the future of diagnostics

As diagnostics continues to evolve, LGC’s contribution can be viewed across three key areas.

• Supporting quality across the industry

LGC helps ensure quality remains embedded within both established and emerging diagnostic technologies through standards, controls and quality management solutions.

• Providing critical raw materials

The performance of diagnostic assays depends on the quality of the materials used to develop them. As a manufacturer of critical raw materials, LGC helps customers achieve the consistency, reliability and supply continuity needed to support patient care.

The importance of resilient supply chains became particularly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the value of reliable partners throughout the healthcare ecosystem. Our role is critically important and brings great value to our customers and to patients.

• Innovating the next generation of raw materials

Beyond supplying today’s solutions, LGC is innovating in the raw materials field. We’re focused on developing the next generation of raw materials to enhance assay performance, improve accessibility and help reduce costs across healthcare systems.

Improving patient outcomes remains the ultimate goal

Whether it’s maintaining quality standards, enabling innovation or supporting the economics of healthcare delivery, every aspect of diagnostics should ultimately serve one purpose: improving patient outcomes.

The opportunity to contribute to better healthcare, support scientific progress and play a role in improving lives is what continues to drive innovation forward. And for me, that’s at the core of why this industry is such an exciting place to be.