PRECISION MEDICINE – WHAT TO KNOW

Precision medicine is an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle. It allows doctors and researchers to predict more accurately which treatment and prevention strategies for a particular disease will work in which groups of people.

The idea behind precision medicine is that what works for one patient may not work for another. Traditional medicine generally uses a one-size-fits-all approach – patients receive the same treatment regardless of their genetics, environment or behavior. However, people can respond very differently to the same treatment. Precision medicine aims to redefine our understanding of disease onset and progression, treatment response, and health outcomes through the more precise measurement and understanding of genetics, environment, and lifestyle factors unique to each person.

Advances in technology now allow researchers to better predict which treatments will work best for specific patients. Next-generation DNA sequencing, for example, enables scientists to rapidly decode a person’s genetic makeup. Using this information, doctors can better match patients with the drugs most likely to be effective and cause the fewest side effects. Big data analytics uncovers patterns in disease risk and treatment effectiveness. Also, mobile health technologies and smartphone apps make it easier for patients to monitor their own vital signs, symptoms, and medication adherence.

The whole point of precision medicine is to enable earlier diagnosis, smarter treatment selection, and the development of novel therapies. By redefining diseases based on their underlying molecular causes rather than just their symptoms, treatments can be tailored to specific abnormalities or biomarkers. Researchers also hope to better understand disease heterogeneity – why people with seemingly similar symptoms have differences in disease progression or response to treatment. Improved understanding of this variability could reveal new disease subtypes and treatment strategies.

The National Institutes of Health launched the Precision Medicine Initiative in 2015 to accelerate research efforts. Many precision medicine trials are underway across cancer, respiratory and neurological diseases. Though still early, precision approaches are already improving some patient outcomes and care experiences. But making precision medicine mainstream faces barriers around diagnostic costs, reimbursement, access to comprehensive genetic testing, and unclear healthcare policies around big data. All things said and done the future possibilities seem promising.