Personalized Medicine

Pharmacy has been a key component of medicine for generations. From witch doctors providing herbal remedies, to the recent use of pharmacogenomics, medicine has always worked differently for different people. However, new advances in technology and understanding of the human body have allowed humans to leap forward and save lives. Genetic testing can improve the use of prescription drugs in many ways. Prescription drugs do not always work, and can sometimes be toxic to the users. This is due to the differences between different people and the fact that everyone has a different genetic makeup. For example, Her2/neu genes code for a protein receptor, the Her2 receptor, which deals with cell growth and differentiation. Some polymorphisms in the Her2/neu genes can change how some women’s breasts grow, leading to possible tumors. Cancer can also cause mutations, making the Her2/neu genes overactive, leading to tumors. Thus, women with breast cancer are routinely checked for Her2/neu over-activity. Physicians prescribe a drug called Herceptin to these Her2/neu positive patients. Herceptin does not work as well with patients that are Her2/neu negative, and in fact can be toxic to these patients (1). Thus, genetic testing allows us to change treatments in a way that could be life saving. However, genetic knowledge can change a person’s life, either through ability to act preventatively or by paralyzing a carrier with the weight of a decision. Gene therapy occurs when genetic faults are repaired through transfer of therapeutic genes to specific cells of an individual. There are two main varieties of gene therapy. The first involves using viruses to deliver the new genes, while the other is stem cell therapy. The problem with gene therapy is that delivering the healthy gene to the cell can be tricky. Gene therapy is continuing to