PRECISION MEDICINE

PRECISION MEDICINE

As medical technology advances it is becoming more and more personalized to individual patients. Precision medicine considers the individual variability in genetics, environment, and lifestyle for each patient. For example, when using precision medicine to treat a patient with cancer, the medicine can be tailored to them based on their unique genetic make-up. This personalized medicine is far more effective than other types of treatment as it attacks tumors based on the patient’s genetics, causing gene mutations and making it more easily destroyed by the cancer medication.

Precision medicine presents great opportunities in transforming the future of healthcare. While it is currently most advanced in oncology, precision medication also has wider, exciting applications, such as in rare and genetic diseases, it also holds some promise in treating infections. However, integrating precision medicine into healthcare is set to be a challenging process with issues within infrastructure, inequalities, and knowledge that the industry must overcome before this becomes mainstream.