The overarching promise of personalized medicine is to optimize medical care and
outcomes for each individual.
It recognizes that the best treatments, medications, dosages, and preventive
strategies may differ from person to person--resulting in customized patient care.
Personalized medicine takes into consideration that all human diseases have both
molecular and environmental components. The study of genetic variation has
proven to be more complex than previously imagined, but is steadily moving
forward. Proteomics and Metabolomics are still in the early stages of study and are
not yet used routinely in the clinic, but the potential is great.
Traditionally, during a doctor’s visit, patients would explain their symptoms,
answer questions concerning their past and present medical history, report their
family medical history, and in some cases may undergo diagnostic procedures,
such as x-rays and blood tests. Patient diagnosis and treatment are determined
based on clinical presentation, medical history, lifestyle factors, and test results.
Personalized medicine is an evolving model of healthcare delivery that determines
appropriate treatments based on each patient’s unique characteristics. A
significant difference between personalized medicine and the traditional model of
care is the use of an individual’s genomic information, where molecular data is
used to determine appropriate treatments. (Steele, 2009).
Expected Improvements
The current model of bringing a drug from “the bench to the bedside” is slow and costly (Rochman, 2012). With increasing understanding of the human genome and the molecular level of disease, there is increasing potential for more efficient, effective methods to successfully treat the right patients with the right therapies at the right time.
