We all have a unique face, fingerprint, voice and signature, so why wouldn’t we have a unique response to the medicine and treatments we receive?
Personalized precision medicine is the use of an individual’s health profile, including their genetic makeup, alongside environmental and lifestyle factors to guide diagnosis, prevention and treatment of disease. With a record 3.7 million workers in England projected to be living with major illness by 2040, driven up by factors such as age, obesity and addiction, such a concept has been heralded as a crucial component in the migration towards a smarter and more effective approach to healthcare.
Cancer is one condition where precision medicine promises to deliver a huge impact, with doctors already using it to treat several types of cancer, including chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and some cases of lung, bowel and breast cancers. In the past, everyone with the same type of cancer used to get the same treatment. But the one-size-fits-all approach isn’t always the most effective. Every person’s cancer has its own genetic makeup, and increased focus is being put on developing treatments to target those differences and producing treatment pathways tailored towards the individual.
Whilst precision medicine for cancer treatment is an area that researchers are still working on, exciting developments such as the Stratified Medicine Paediatrics 2 (SMPaeds2) research programme (launched in November 2023) will see £5.5 million of funding put into advancing precision medicine for children and young people with returning cancer – another step closer to a tailored treatment future.
In addition to enabling better treatment outcomes, experts believe precision medicine will help lower healthcare costs by guiding doctors in choosing treatments that are likely to work best and helping to prevent disease in the future. This means a patient might avoid certain treatments, along with unnecessary side effects (and the possible costs that might go along with them). With the NHS continuing to grapple with alarming levels of debt– driving treatment efficiency and cost savings has never been more important to future stability.
Although there is still some way to go to unlock the full potential of personalized precision medicine within the UK health system and across the globe, exciting advancements in diagnostic technology are already moving in this direction – facilitating enhanced precision and accuracy for better treatment outcomes.
The viewpoint will go on to explore:
- The changing landscape of precision medicine
- How precision procedures is already driving a huge impact in healthcare
- Why high image quality remains a fundamental necessity on the road to a precision medicine future
- The benefits of early detection for patients
New center established to bridge AI technology and healthcare applications