Bupa has announced its new prevention pathways for breast cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, designed to guide Bupa customers based on a clinical assessment, including genetic risk, and offer access to diagnosis, expert support and potentially life-saving surgeries.
Proactively addressing serious conditions, which often have a genetic or family history, can help prevent them before symptoms appear, providing greater clarity and reassurance while helping people to live longer and healthier lives.
This makes Bupa the first major private medical insurer to offer preventive care to all customers before any symptoms appear, with the service expected to support 200,000 Bupa customers by the end of 2027.
This latest step in Bupa’s genomic health programme signifies a shift from treating illness to delivering personalised and prevention‑focused care that is guided by individuals’ health risk factors, including genetics.
The prevention pathways have been designed based on findings from Bupa’s genomics pilot study of over 12,000 customers, and the offering will mean people have fast access to Bupa’s network of specialised clinics, hospitals and digital services.
The prevention pathway for breast cancer will use digital triage and genetic testing to identify customers at elevated genetic risk of breast cancer. They can then be offered personalised treatment options, including access to preventive medications such as Tamoxifen, or risk-reducing surgery such as a mastectomy. This pathway is estimated to support over 36,000 Bupa customers by the end of 2027.
For those at high risk of cardiovascular disease or diabetes, those pathways will include funding to access Bupa’s weight management service.
Bupa is also integrating Bupa medication check for all UK customers taking regular medication, potentially directing 4.2 million customers onto the right medication at the right dose for their genetic profile. This product uses a saliva test to determine which medications are most likely to be effective or cause side effects.
The medication check pathway will be available to Bupa UK Insurance customers from 1st June, while the breast cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease pathways will be available to Bupa UK Insurance customers from 1st September.
"Today marks a significant milestone as Bupa becomes the first major private medical insurer to offer fully integrated, genomics-led personalised and preventive healthcare as part of its standard cover. By moving from treating illness to predicting and preventing it, we are redefining the role of healthcare," Dan Sullivan, product and proposition director for Bupa Insurance, said.
He added: "Early intervention leads to better outcomes, so being able to prevent illness before reaching crisis stage is key. This shift allows us to provide personal treatment plans for everyone and support our customers better than ever before."
Dr Rebecca Rohrer, clinical innovation and genomics director for Bupa, commented: "This is a turning point in how we think about healthcare, enabling people to be more proactive in preventing or delaying ill-health and having faster access to medication that works for them.
"Genomics truly is at the frontier of healthcare, and by harnessing the learnings from our pilot study of over 12,000 customers, we’re uniquely placed to offer personalised care to each individual customer, for the best personalised health outcome."
