Personalized medicine, also known as precision medicine, aims to tailor medical decisions, practices, interventions, and products to the needs of individual patients. It separates people into groups, based on their genetic makeup and other characteristics. This is accomplished by using data from a patient’s genetic makeup and other factors, such as lifestyle. A physician can then customize the medicine he or she gives each patient. Because of the individuality of each patient, personalized medicine can lead to more effective treatments and cures for illnesses.
Personalized medicine
Personalized medicine is the use of genetic data and patient characteristics to develop better medicines. Historically, doctors have relied on research that was conducted on large groups of people. This approach has proven effective, but not always optimal. Each person has a unique genetic makeup, which means a certain treatment may not be as effective for them as it is for someone else. By using genetic information and proteins that can vary from person to person, personalized medicine can help doctors prescribe more effective drugs.
Although the FDA has endorsed personalized medicine, it has not yet mandated doctors to conduct genetic testing before prescribing a drug. An example of a drug that has been shown to improve treatment outcomes in patients who have a genetic marker is Roche’s Vesanoid. It is an effective treatment for acute promyelocytic leukemia, a type of cancer defined by a genetic marker. The label, however, states that the drug is only effective in patients who carry the specific genetic marker and should be used as an alternative treatment for those who don’t.
In addition to genetic testing, personalized medicine also takes into consideration psychological and environmental aspects of a patient’s life. The subjective and environmental aspects of disease states are being studied by many scientists and clinicians. Using magnetic resonance imaging, scientists have been able to identify patterns in brain activity that correlate with a disease state. Using this information, an algorithm is able to detect chronic pain states in individual patients. If this method can be applied in other fields, personalized medicine can prove to be a highly effective way to treat diseases.
While the use of genomic and other data in personalized medicine is becoming more prevalent, there are still significant challenges to overcome in order to achieve the full potential of the technology. The goal is to find the optimal treatment for an individual’s genetic makeup and improve their quality of life. As with any new technology, it takes time to develop a reliable system that can analyze genetic information. However, personalized medicine is already making a difference in people’s lives and has the potential to revolutionize the way we treat disease.
Precision medicine
What is precision medicine? In simple terms, this type of medicine is based on the increased understanding of how different people react to different treatments. This type of medicine involves analyzing large amounts of data about patients to find the most effective treatment for an individual patient. Many factors influence the treatment of a disease, including the patient’s genetic makeup, environment, and age. By taking these factors into account, physicians can better target treatments to the specific patient’s needs and response to therapy.
Recently, the United States embarked on a government-funded effort called All of Us. The effort aims to enroll one million people in research to help identify biomarkers and treatments for a variety of diseases. The data collected from participants will be analyzed by scientists using digital health technologies. This data will help researchers understand how disease biology differs from person to person and what makes a particular drug work better. Precision medicine can improve the treatment of a wide range of diseases.
The concept of precision medicine refers to a system of personalized medicine that considers the genetic makeup of each patient. The technology enables physicians to personalize their treatment plans by taking their individual factors into consideration. They also consider mobility and preexisting conditions, as well as their mitigating circumstances. It’s important to note, however, that this type of medicine is still in its infancy, and researchers have barely scratched the surface of the discoveries it can yield.
One application of precision medicine is in the treatment of cancer. Patients at a higher risk for cancer may realize that the disease runs in their family. The doctor may consult with a certified genetic counselor to determine if the person’s inherited gene changes may lead to cancer. If so, they may prescribe medications or suggest healthy habits to reduce the risk of cancer. Further, the results of the genetic test can also determine the right timing of screenings.
Preventive therapy
Personalized medicine uses an individual’s genetic profile to guide diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. The information gained by personalizing a patient’s health will allow doctors to choose the most appropriate medication or therapy based on their specific genetic makeup. Personalized medicine advances from the data generated by the Human Genome Project. It has become increasingly important to determine the risk factors and characteristics of an individual patient’s disease, as well as the likelihood of a patient’s response to certain treatments.
The world’s top researchers and doctors have long been interested in developing preventive therapies. However, they have not been able to fully understand how different people develop disease and respond to certain treatments. The “one-size-fits-all” approach to medicine has failed to address these differences and is based on population averages. This approach is inadequate, because the genetic make-up of a patient is unique, which makes personalized medicine essential.
As the focus on prevention shifts from response to prevention, PM is making progress. In addition to ensuring optimal patient care, it reduces costly and time-consuming clinical trials. Furthermore, new genomics advances have uncovered variations in genes that are associated with specific diseases. PM is a good way to revive failed drugs and reduce the cost of health care. However, this technology is still in its early stages. Further advances in personalized medicine will be necessary to achieve these goals.
Personalized medicine also reduces overall health care costs. For example, a blood test that detects an overabundance of a protein called HER2 in a woman’s body can be done for less than $1,000. Another example is the Herceptin test, which costs around $400 and detects a woman’s HER2 level above the norm. But this test has some problems, and may not be helpful for women who have lower levels of this protein.
Stratifying medicine
Stratified medicine is one of the key steps towards personalized and precision medicine. In clinical trials, stratified medicine is used to determine the type of treatment for specific patient groups. For example, treatment for breast cancer is targeted to patients who express the estrogen receptor. Most of these patients will respond to estrogen treatment. But when the treatment is not effective for all the patients, the drug is withdrawn. Instead, the patient receives a different treatment that targets their unique pharmacogenomic profile.
While the future of personalized medicine may be based on genetic information, many ethical concerns remain. The concept of stratification is not often explored as an ethical concept, and the term is often dismissed and downplayed. The editors of this special issue lay out the ethical issues involved. These challenges are complex, but they are critical to the progress of precision medicine. In this issue of Frontiers in Medical Ethics, we explore some of the ethical questions that come with stratification and its applications.
In 2008, Leroy Hood introduced the concept of ‘P4 medicine’: ‘Predictive, personalized, preventive, participatory, and personalized.’ This is a fundamental shift in the way medicine is conducted. System biology is the study of relationships in whole systems, and allows us to approach disease in a more comprehensive way. Stratification in personalized medicine requires molecular insights into disease mechanisms, and molecular information from multiple sources will help us develop new kinds of drugs.
The key to personalized medicine is to stratify patients and make treatments more specific. By identifying subgroups of patients with similar disease profiles, clinicians will be able to tailor interventions to their individual needs. In other words, they can target their interventions based on specific physiologic and genetic characteristics. The more precise the approach is, the more effective it will be in the long run. There is already a need for precision medicine and its benefits.
Pharmacogenomics
One area of science that is rapidly evolving is pharmacogenomics. Pharmacogenomics studies the role of your genes in how your body responds to drugs. This new field combines genomics and pharmacology to provide personalized treatments that are tailored to each individual patient’s needs. Genetic variations in response to drugs are particularly interesting because they are related to the way your body processes certain drugs. Pharmacogenomics is just one of many emerging technologies that can help your doctor customize your treatment based on your genetics.
While there is much more work to be done, pharmacogenomics is already being widely used in other medical fields. It involves DNA testing from a patient’s cheek and obtaining a patient’s medical history and medication list. The results are reported to their referring physician and a personalized treatment plan is created. The Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC) has published a guide for pharmacogenomics research.
To date, pharmacogenomics has been utilized to tailor drug therapies for osteoarticular diseases such as osteoarthritis. Traditional candidate gene approaches have identified several genetic variants that influence clinical drug responsiveness. More recently, gene-wide association studies have emerged that associate specific genetic variants with drug response. Although pharmacogenomics has the potential to be cost-effective in some cases, it still requires rigorous clinical trials to validate its use in addressing medical conditions.
The aim of pharmacogenomics is to improve drug safety and predict serious adverse drug reactions. For example, an enzyme known as CYP2D6 breaks down antidepressants, antiarrhythmic drugs, and even antipsychotic drugs. It has dozens of variant alleles, including point mutations and gene deletions. Some of these alleles result in increased enzyme activity, while others do not.