GLASGOW has suffered more than most with its higher than average rate of deaths from cancer, heart disease and stroke.

The city has paid a heavy price in terms of lives lost and also in the cost to the NHS.

So it is appropriate that Glasgow should be in the front line of developing new medicines to combat these diseases.

Glasgow is home to some of the best minds in medicine and research into developing new drugs with experts attracted from home and abroad.

Our universities have been building a reputation in the life sciences sector which will develop the next generation of medicine to treat chronic conditions.

Now with the completion of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and its brand new research facilities the NHS, Glasgow University and the pharmaceutical industry can take its work to the next level as Glasgow has been named regional hub for precision medicine.

Such is the level of expertise and body of work already under way that those leading the project believe we may be as close as five years from having the new drugs available to cancer patients.

As Professor Anna Dominiczak says, this is nothing short of a revolution in medicine and Glasgow is firmly in the vanguard.

Science – and cutting-edge research – is alive and well in the city.