title: Personalised medicine in 2012: editorial to the special issue of New Biotechnology on "molecular diagnostics & personalised medicine".
abstract: This special issue of New Biotechnology is focused on molecular diagnostics and personalised medicine and appears at an epochal moment in the development of the field. The practice of medicine is taking a significant and irrevocable turn towards personalisation, due to the great progress in areas such as genomics, pharmacogenomics and molecular diagnosis. It becomes increasingly apparent that to deliver the promise of personalised treatments, more and more novel medicines discovered today will be presented together with innovative companion diagnostics. The contributions to this volume touch on many disciplines, ranging from cell biology to genetics, immunology, molecular diagnostics, pharmaceutics and economic issues. The contributions of clinicians and basic scientists are synergistically presented to underline better the wide spectrum of studies that can contribute to the new field of personalised medicine. The promising perspectives of individualised treatments are related not only to higher effectiveness, but also to increased efficiency. This is relevant not only for the individual patient, but even more so for the general public, within a wider economical perspective where resources are limited and it becomes more and more mandatory to close the gap between social costs and benefits. This approach follows the steps of a stratified and individualised medicine and finds its final goal in an individualised healthcare.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Desiere
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Romano Spica
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D062069:Inventions; D057089:Pathology, Molecular / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D057285:Precision Medicine / Q000191:economics