In a more and more individualized society, it is no surprise that it has also reached the pharma industry. The next step forward is ‘personalized medicine’ or ‘individualized treatment’. This means that your genotype or gene expression profile could be used to tailor medical care to your needs.

However, ethical issues are involved in the development of personalised medicine mainly in the area of genetic testing along with social issues and consideration of race in the development of personalized medicine.

Nevertheless, the Bioethics International website writes that personalized medicine promises two crucial triumphs: the delivery of cheaper and safer healthcare. What else could you wish?
Gordon B. Mills, chairman of the department of systems biology at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is quoted on Chemical Engineering news website: “If this is going to move forward, it is going to take a whole new approach to science.”

By identifying the most effective treatment for individual patients, healthcare costs can be reduced, thereby eliminating the cost of unnecessary treatments, and by speeding up clinical trials.

A new report also highlight the positive effects in terms of  genotyping for drug resistance in HIV infection, personalized therapy of cancer, antipsychotics for schizophrenia, antidepressant therapy, antihypertensive therapy and personalized approach to neurological disorders. Although genotyping is not yet a part of clinically accepted routine, it is expected to have this status by the year 2012.

Several players are involved in the development of personalized healthcare. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have taken a leading role in this venture in keeping with their future role as healthcare enterprises rather than mere developers of technologies and manufacturers of medicines.

Related Research: Personalized Medicine - scientific & commercial aspects