Personalized medicine: reality and reality checks.
The evolving era of pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine is greeted with optimism by many, but this sentiment is not universally shared. The existence of diametrically opposed opinions concerning the potential benefits and obstacles facing the widespread implementation of genomic medicine should stimulate discussion and guide the design of studies to establish the value of interventions targeted at the level of individual patients. One of the more controversial aspects of personalized medicine is whether the anticipated benefits will be realized at an acceptable cost. Recently released analyses suggest that the returns on investment depend on the particular scenario and are different for different stakeholders. On the other hand, cost is only one of the challenges regarding implementation of personalized medicine. Among these are the development of universal standards for managing genomic information in electronic medical records, improvement in the collection and interpretation of clinical phenotype data, and new strategies to educate practitioners and patients/consumers. The reality is that personalized medicine is upon us; open discourse and periodic reality checks will be necessary as we confront it.
Division of Clinical Pharmacology and MedicalToxicology, Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, 2401 Gillham Rd., Kansas City, MO 64108, USA. sleeder@cmh.edu
J Steven
JS
Leeder
Stephen P
SP
Spielberg
D016527:Drug Costs; D017850:Economics, Pharmaceutical; D023281:Genomics; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D010597:Pharmacogenetics