Personalized Medicine is the Future

Most of us have a healthy degree of skepticism when it comes to what pharmaceutical companies tell us and also, to some degree, even what the medical establishment tells us. But there is something new that the world of science has revealed that really turns a whole lot of what we trust upside down, inside out.

Sure, we know that genetics research has been pumping out all kinds of incredible information about human makeup and also new drugs. But now it has been revealed that only about half of all the drugs we have been using actually work on individuals. Stop a moment and think about that statement. Despite all the lengthy and costly laboratory and clinical testing that has to be done to get government approval for prescription drugs, the pharmaceutical industry along with the medical establishment and government has been using a one-size-fits-all approach. Beyond safety, drugs are said to work effectively to treat diseases and conditions based on a very broad view of how the population responds.

Now the world of genetics tells us something that explains a fact that we have not really been told about. Why do all drugs only work on about half the people, even though they have been approved for specific uses? The answer seems simple and obvious. Drugs do not work all the time because of the particular genetic makeup of individuals. With the right genes a drug may work, with the wrong ones it does not and bad side effects may be worse. Did any doctor or pharmacist ever tell you that? No one ever told me.

I take six prescription drugs for chronic conditions. So, now I wonder just how effective they are for me. The same goes for over the counter, non-prescription drugs, many of which once were prescription ones.

When you think about all this you should also contemplate the incredible extent of nasty side effects of drugs that people have had to suffer with, and that half of all the people suffered needlessly because the drugs were not even really working for them.

Is there an alternative to this situation? Sure is. And that is the really big news. Drugs can and should be correlated with specific genetic make-ups. This has already been done for relatively few cancer drugs. But the whole world of drugs and medicines will be undergoing a monumental revolution when personal genetics will determine which drugs any of us should be taking. They are calling this new world "personalized medicine."

But for a whole lot of us the revolution will come too late. "It's going to take 20 to 30 years for all this to fall into place," said Dr. Gregory Downing, who heads efforts by the Department of Health and Human Services to spur personalized health care.

One thing that struck me is that a large number of drugs that were deemed safe but ineffective may actually work for some people. The problem is that the entire system of drug research, development and testing will have to become much more complicated by taking into account genetic factors. In fact, it seems that some pharmaceutical companies have not been embracing the now recognized critically important link between drug effectiveness and genetics. Why? They would rather market drugs to the entire population, rather than develop a larger number for niche segments of the population.

I was heartened to learn that there is a Personalized Medicine Coalition. It has a very broad membership of universities, government agencies, private groups, drug companies, health insurance firms, and companies involved with genetics research and testing. It is advancing the promise of improved personal and public health care through personalized medicine. If this subject interests you, there are a number of publications freely available on their website personalizedmedicinecoalition.org.

I was also impressed that this past September the White House issued a report by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology entitled Priorities for Personalized Medicine. The study was extremely positive and recommended "that the Federal government develop a strategic, long-term plan that coordinates public and private sector efforts to advance research and development relevant to personalized medicine." It summed things up this way: "The goal of personalized medicine is to reduce the burden of disease by targeting prevention or treatment more effectively. Its strategy is to sort patients into narrower diagnostic categories that correlate more strongly with the efficacy of specific therapies or preventive measures. Its key enabling technologies are advances in genomics and molecular biology that offer the potential to radically improve our ability to characterize susceptibility to disease and to treatment effects." Lowering health care costs was deemed an important outcome.

If President Obama is serious about reforming and improving America's health care system, then giving priority to providing federal support for research and development of personalized medicine products is a no-brainer. The driving force should, in part, be that much of the national spending of about $300 billion annually on drugs is wasted. Each of us is wasting money. More importantly, personalized medicine is the way to achieve far better health for Americans. Here is also a huge opportunity for the US to develop technologies and products that can be exported to help the rest of the world achieve improved health. We need desperately need this new export markets for our own economic growth.

Now you know why we should all strongly support - actually demand - rapid development of personalized medicine.