Personalized Medicine
SCI 115

Abstract
Personalized medicine is a healthcare field that deals with the different and unique genomic, genetic, clinical, and environmental information of each person. Personalized medicine is based on making treatment or prevention of disease focus on the individual and the factors that do or will affect that particular individual. Some of the advantages of personalized medicine are the ability to make more informed medical decisions, earlier disease intervention, and reduced probability of negative side effects. Although there is a large upside to personalized medicine and the medical advantages that come along with it implementation, there lyes the challenge. The implementation of personalized medicine is the largest limitation. Whether it is lack of push from the healthcare industry or lack of proven technology to properly diagnose individual patients, personalized medicine is very young and has a long way to go.

Personalized medicine or medical treatment that is unique to the individual definitely has it advantages. Some of those advantages are the ability to make more informed medical decisions, earlier disease intervention. Laberge and Burke (2008) describe personalized medicine as health care that is tailored to the individual. They go on to say that (Laberge and Burke 2008) recently the term has been used to refer specifically to genetically-based health care. Some of the drawbacks to personalized medicine according to Laberge and Burke (2008) are risk information is not highly motivating, most genetic risk are modest, and even when risk prediction is clinically useful, genetic risk may not be. One of the advantages of personalized medicine is the ability to make more informed medical decisions specific to the individual patient. Although the medical decisions are already somewhat personalized because the doctor is prescribing what seems to be the fix for the problem of the individual, medicine could be more specific. Personalized medicine because it takes into account the factors that are specific to the individual can lead to better diagnoses of a patients problems. Prescribing medicine also could be improved by personalized medicine. The method of prescribing medicine as it is now involves a bit of trial and error. The medicine must be given to the patient and the outcome determines whether it was the right medicine or not. The decision to give the patient the chosen medication is made from past documented experience that proves the medicine works for the illness that the patient is experiencing. Personalized medicine allows doctors to decide on medications taking into consideration the way it would specifically effect that individual. Personalized medicine also can be very helpful in the intervention of disease by the ability to detect possible disease causing factors in advance. U.S. News (2011) says “an individual's genome influences his or her likelihood of developing (or not developing) a broad range of medical conditions, personalized medicine focuses strongly on wellness and disease prevention.” They go on to state that “if a person's genomic information indicates a higher-than-average risk of developing diabetes or a particular form of cancer, that person may choose a lifestyle, or sometimes be prescribed medications, to better regulate the aspects of health and wellness over which he or she has control. The person may benefit in the long run from making preventive lifestyle choices that will help counteract the biological risk.” Some of the medical conditions that may be discovered using personalized genomic medicine include cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, obesity, and neuropsychiatric disorders. Researchers are working to develop a host of test that will hopefully allow medicine to predict and counteract many of the diseases that effect humans today. Some of the limitations or obstacles to personalized medicine are that risk information is not highly motivating, most genetic risk are modest, and even when risk prediction is clinically useful, genetic risk may not be. The use of genetic information could lead to gains if the information was able to motivate healthy behaviors. Unfortunately most genetic risk are modest and do little to motivate. Another limitation is the fact that some people with genetic risk will never develop the disease that they are at risk for. Others that do not exhibit factors that would point to them developing a genetic disease will. This weakens the argument of the need for personalized medicine and take the steam out of the push for more research in that direction. There are many advantages to personalized medicine that could benefit many people as research continues and more is learned. Personalized medicine has the potential to positively effect disease prevention and medical diagnoses. There are limitations to personalized medicine and until further research is completed to validate personalized medicines place in health care, there will be opposition.

References
Laberge A., & Burke W. (2008) “Personalized Medicine and Genomics,” in From Birth to Death and Bench to Clinic: The Hastings Center Bioethics Briefing Book for Journalists, Policymakers, and Campaigns, ed. Mary Crowley (Garrison, NY: The Hastings Center), 133-136.

U.S. News (2011) Personalized Medicine. Retrieved from http://health.usnews.com/health-conditions/cancer/personalized-medicine