Individualized Medicine
The Medicine of Tomorrow
The new possibilities of “individualized medicine” allow physicians to adjust therapeutic strategies to the needs of patients in highly targeted ways. With the help of genetic information, patients are advised and their health managed in new ways. In the areas of medications, family planning, and even genetic therapy, specially-tailored treatments offer improved efficacy and fewer side effects – a personal pharmacogenomics, a personalized form of medicine.
With its promise of improved treatment for each patient, “individualized medicine” may shape the future of healthcare. Medical procedures which are adapted to the individual patient with greater specificity than previously harbor great potential, and may soon bring enhanced levels of quality and cost-effectiveness provision. Such instances of “individualized medicine” may soon permeate all levels of health care provision – from prevention via (early) diagnostics, all the way to therapeutic treatments and aftercare monitoring. But what exactly distinguishes “individualized” from “off the rack” medicine?
