As medical technology and research advances, the possibility for new and improved treatments for a range of illnesses become available. This is the case for precision medicine.
Precision medicine is an approach that looks specifically at the individual’s personal genetics and circumstances, and uses this information to chart a strategy towards the prevention of diseases and treatment.
Precision medicine looks closely at the phenotypes and genotypes of the individual (genetics) but can also take into account their environment and lifestyle.
The intention of precision medicine is to allow medical practitioners to develop personalised treatments for existing conditions, predicting the effectiveness of the treatment with a greater level of accuracy.
At the same time, it looks to test and apply preventative strategies in groups of people with particular variabilities in their genes.
The philosophy of precision medicine is based around the ability to develop personalised strategies to health and wellbeing, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach which has been commonplace until now. Such an approach does not necessarily produce optimum results for the patient, and therefore precision medicine stands to deliver substantial benefits in the future.
Precision medicine is not a new approach. Indeed, the matching of a blood donor to a blood recipient, based on their blood type, is an example of precision medicine. However precision medicine is now becoming more common within mainstream medicine, aided by rapid advances in technology over recent years.
To explore precision medicine in greater detail, we recommend the article at: https://www.pmlive.com/pharma_intelligence/The_promise_of_precision_medicine_1363257.