p Although genomic medicine is still a fairly new clinical area, the history of health economics involvement in genomics has a longer history than might be anticipated. Some of the earliest health economics input into genomics was in areas such as neonatal and newborn screening, where health economists contributed to decisions about adding new conditions into newborn screening programmes worldwide. More recently, the first human genome was only sequenced in 2003, costing between US$500 million and US$1 billion. However, by 2008 costs had fallen to a level where so called 'next-generation sequencing (NGS)' approaches started to enter clinical research. NGS approaches allow either the whole genome using methods such as whole-genome sequencing (WGS) or parts of it using whole-exome sequencing (WES) or targeted panels to be sequenced in hours with increased sensitivity compared to older less advanced genetic testing approaches. These sequencing approaches provide information that can inform diagnosis, prognosis and clinical management for a variety of disorders, such as rare diseases and some cancers. However, the current costs are still too expensive for some health care providers and the benefit of the tests is largely unknown. Indeed, a lack of evidence on the cost-effectiveness of novel genomic technologies such as WGS is considered a key translational challenge. This is partly because economic evaluations of genomic technologies often fall outside the remit of health technology assessment (HTA) agencies, such as NICE and PBAC. Where they are undertaken (in a HTA context), the methods used for the assessment sometimes differ from those recommended by HTA agencies for cost-effectiveness analysis. This is against a background of uncertainty as to whether the terms precision medicine, personalised medicine or genomic medicine best capture this space in health care. /p p /p strong/strong p Methodological challenges /p p Some applications of genomic sequencing generate information that may not improve quality of life (as measured using preference-based health-related quality of life [HRQoL] instruments such as the EuroQol-five dimensions questionnaire) or extend life expectancy. One example is the use of WGS and WES to guide diagnosis in autism spectrum disorder. However, genomic sequencing results may influence patient wellbeing via non-clinical routes, generating 'personal utility'. This is a particular issue for individuals with rare diseases, who often have lengthy diagnostic journeys but few (if any) treatment options available once they receive a diagnosis. This could also be an issue if individuals without known health problems (healthy cohorts) undergo genomic sequencing and find out that they have an elevated risk of a disease, but no preventive action can be taken to manage this risk. /p p With respect to costs, the costs of undertaking genomic tests are only one component of the cost of the overall genomic testing process. The costs that are incurred beyond those associated with the production of genomic information (so probably beyond the scope of any national tariffs that might be generated) include the costs of bioinformatics analysis, interpretation of results in multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings and genetic counselling services. /p p Such issues have raised questions about whether or not genomics is exceptional for health economists - possibly not, but the combined issues perhaps lead to it often requiring additional attention. There is also a consideration of the importance of accounting for the 'personal' when evaluating personalized medicine and considers the extent to which extra-welfarist and welfarist approaches to economic evaluation achieve this objective. Extra-welfarist approaches are currently used by many health technology assessment agencies but may not capture all of the outcomes that are important to patients in this context. Extensions to the extra-welfarist approach tha/p