Personalizing health care : feasibility and future implications

Godman, Brian and Finlayson, Alexander E and Cheema, Parneet K and Zebedin-Brandl, Eva and Gutiérrez-Ibarluzea, Inaki and Jones, Jan and Malmström, Rickard E and Asola, Elina and Baumgärtel, Christoph and Bennie, Marion and Bishop, Iain and Bucsics, Anna and Campbell, Stephen and Diogene, Eduardo and Ferrario, Alessandra and Fürst, Jurij and Garuoliene, Kristina and Gomes, Miguel and Harris, Katharine and Haycox, Alan and Herholz, Harald and Hviding, Krystyna and Jan, Saira and Kalaba, Marija and Kvalheim, Christina and Laius, Ott and Lööv, Sven-Ake and Malinowska, Kamila and Martin, Andrew and McCullagh, Laura and Nilsson, Fredrik and Paterson, Ken and Schwabe, Ulrich and Selke, Gisbert and Sermet, Catherine and Simoens, Steven and Tomek, Dominik and Vlahovic-Palcevski, Vera and Voncina, Luka and Wladysiuk, Magdalena and van Woerkom, Menno and Wong-Rieger, Durhane and Zara, Corrine and Ali, Raghib and Gustafsson, Lars L (2013) Personalizing health care : feasibility and future implications. BMC Medicine, 11. 179. ISSN 1741-7015 (https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7015-11-179)

[thumbnail of 1741-7015-11-179]
Preview
 PDF. Filename: 1741_7015_11_179.pdf
Final Published Version
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 logo
Download (1MB)| Preview

Abstract

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.

CORE (COnnecting REpositories)