Personalizing health care: feasibility and future implications

• Published in: BMC medicine 2013-08, Vol.11 (1), p.179-179, Article 179
• Main Authors: Godman, Brian, Finlayson, Alexander E, Cheema, Parneet K, Zebedin-Brandl, Eva, Gutiérrez-Ibarluzea, Inaki, Jones, Jan, Malmström, Rickard E, Asola, Elina, Baumgärtel, Christoph, Bennie, Marion, Bishop, Iain, Bucsics, Anna, Campbell, Stephen, Diogene, Eduardo, Ferrario, Alessandra, Fürst, Jurij, Garuoliene, Kristina, Gomes, Miguel, Harris, Katharine, Haycox, Alan, Herholz, Harald, Hviding, Krystyna, Jan, Saira, Kalaba, Marija, Kvalheim, Christina, Laius, Ott, Lööv, Sven-Ake, Malinowska, Kamila, Martin, Andrew, McCullagh, Laura, Nilsson, Fredrik, Paterson, Ken, Schwabe, Ulrich, Selke, Gisbert, Sermet, Catherine, Simoens, Steven, Tomek, Dominik, Vlahovic-Palcevski, Vera, Voncina, Luka, Wladysiuk, Magdalena, van Woerkom, Menno, Wong-Rieger, Durhane, Zara, Corrine, Ali, Raghib, Gustafsson, Lars L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Care and treatment; Delivery of Health Care - methods; Delivery of Health Care - trends; Feasibility Studies; Forecasting; Forecasts and trends; Homeopathy; Humans; Hälso- och sjukvårdsorganisation, hälsopolitik och hälsoekonomi; Hälsovetenskap; Materia medica and therapeutics; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Methods; Patient Care - methods; Patient Care - trends; Patients; Pharmacogenetics; Pharmacogenetics - methods; Pharmacogenetics - trends; Precision Medicine - methods; Precision Medicine - trends; Review; Therapeutics
• ISSN: 1741-7015; 1741-7015
• DOI: 10.1186/1741-7015-11-179

Considerable variety in how patients respond to treatments, driven by differences in their geno- and/ or phenotypes, calls for a more tailored approach. This is already happening, and will accelerate with developments in personalized medicine. However, its promise has not always translated into improvements in patient care due to the complexities involved. There are also concerns that advice for tests has been reversed, current tests can be costly, there is fragmentation of funding of care, and companies may seek high prices for new targeted drugs. There is a need to integrate current knowledge from a payer's perspective to provide future guidance. Multiple findings including general considerations; influence of pharmacogenomics on response and toxicity of drug therapies; value of biomarker tests; limitations and costs of tests; and potentially high acquisition costs of new targeted therapies help to give guidance on potential ways forward for all stakeholder groups. Overall, personalized medicine has the potential to revolutionize care. However, current challenges and concerns need to be addressed to enhance its uptake and funding to benefit patients.