Comments on: Study: Future of Personalized Medicine http://blog.pharmexec.com/2010/07/27/study-future-of-personalized-medicine/ The Business of Pharmaceuticals Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:53:10 -0500 hourly 1 By: Stephen Schimpff, MD http://blog.pharmexec.com/2010/07/27/study-future-of-personalized-medicine/comment-page-1/#comment-78346 Stephen Schimpff, MD Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:17:12 +0000 http://blog.pharmexec.com/?p=1843#comment-78346 This is a very interesting piece on personalized medicine -- which might also be called “custom-tailored medicine.” The big issue ahead in health care is to improve quality while reducing costs. Personalized medicine has an opportunity to do just that. Consider genomics for predicting some illnesses and establishing life style changes or medication prescriptions to ward off the likelihood of later illness. Or consider genomic data that will more specifically identify a tumor type or its prognosis and thus allow for more targeted or effective therapy. Diagnosis will improve with, for example, rapid microbiologic identification of infections allowing immediate specific therapy. Medications can be selected to avoid side effects (for example those who cannot metabolize 6MP) or to assure efficacy (avoid treating the patient whose genomics prevents response to albuterol.) These are just some of the opportunities to improve quality while reducing costs. When a company or physician can tell the patient that the cost of care will be less and at the same time that the likelihood of a successful outcome will be greater, then that is a win-win. This is the opportunity. It remains for firms to take it up and run with it. In my book, “The Future of Medicine – Megatrends in Healthcare” there is a much fuller discussion. This is a very interesting piece on personalized medicine — which might also be called “custom-tailored medicine.” The big issue ahead in health care is to improve quality while reducing costs. Personalized medicine has an opportunity to do just that. Consider genomics for predicting some illnesses and establishing life style changes or medication prescriptions to ward off the likelihood of later illness. Or consider genomic data that will more specifically identify a tumor type or its prognosis and thus allow for more targeted or effective therapy. Diagnosis will improve with, for example, rapid microbiologic identification of infections allowing immediate specific therapy. Medications can be selected to avoid side effects (for example those who cannot metabolize 6MP) or to assure efficacy (avoid treating the patient whose genomics prevents response to albuterol.)

These are just some of the opportunities to improve quality while reducing costs. When a company or physician can tell the patient that the cost of care will be less and at the same time that the likelihood of a successful outcome will be greater, then that is a win-win. This is the opportunity. It remains for firms to take it up and run with it.

In my book, “The Future of Medicine – Megatrends in Healthcare” there is a much fuller discussion.

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