H.R. 6498 is called the Genomics and Personalized Medicine Act of 2008. It was introduced on Tuesday this week.

The bill’s statement of purpose is what wins it membership in the “and a pony” category of congressional bills: “To secure the promise of personalized medicine for all Americans by expanding and accelerating genomics research and initiatives to improve the accuracy of disease diagnosis, increase the safety of drugs, and identify novel treatments, and for other purposes.”

Personalized medicine for all? Wow - that’s a big, dramatic claim, and it’s probably unattainable.

But there’s no doubt of good to be done from genetic research. The bill would create a Genomics and Personalized Medicine Interagency Working Group at the Department of Health and Human Services. It would promote spending on genetic research, including on a “national biobanking initiative.” The personalized medicine part would be advanced by the creation of a “Registry on Analytical and Clinical Validity of Laboratory-Developed Genetic Tests.” The bill would spend $235,000,000 in fiscal year 2009 on these and other programs.

Good things? Yes. Delivering on the out-sized promise in the bill’s statement of purpose? Not so much.

Here’s the current voting on the Genomics and Personalized Medicine Act of 2008. Click to vote, comment, learn more, or edit the wiki article about the bill: