title: Personalized Medicine in a New Genomic Era: Ethical and Legal Aspects.
abstract: The genome of two completely unrelated individuals is quite similar apart from minor variations called single nucleotide polymorphisms which contribute to the uniqueness of each and every person. These single nucleotide polymorphisms are of great interest clinically as they are useful in figuring out the susceptibility of certain individuals to particular diseases and for recognizing varied responses to pharmacological interventions. This gives rise to the idea of 'personalized medicine' as an exciting new therapeutic science in this genomic era. Personalized medicine suggests a unique treatment strategy based on an individual's genetic make-up. Its key principles revolve around applied pharmaco-genomics, pharmaco-kinetics and pharmaco-proteomics. Herein, the ethical and legal aspects of personalized medicine in a new genomic era are briefly addressed. The ultimate goal is to comprehensively recognize all relevant forms of genetic variation in each individual and be able to interpret this information in a clinically meaningful manner within the ambit of ethical and legal considerations. The authors of this article firmly believe that personalized medicine has the potential to revolutionize the current landscape of medicine as it makes its way into clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Dow Medical College, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shoaib
authors.affiliation: Dow Medical College, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Mansoor Ali Merchant
authors.initials: MAM
authors.lastname: Rameez
authors.affiliation: Dow Medical College, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Syed Ather
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.affiliation: Forensic Medicine Division, Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, King Fahd Hospital of the University, University of Dammam, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.|Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Melbourne, Australia.|Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Madadin
authors.affiliation: Forensic Medicine Division, Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, King Fahd Hospital of the University, University of Dammam, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. mangalore971@yahoo.co.in.
authors.forename: Ritesh G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Menezes
mesh_terms: D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D007603:Jurisprudence; D057285:Precision Medicine / Q000941:ethics*
keywords: Ethical and legal aspects; Genomic era; Personalized medicine