As we head into the final weeks of 2009, I wanted to share some recent articles and reports that you might want to read between glasses of eggnog and gatherings with family and friends. As the year draws to a close, these articles point to the tremendous opportunities that are ahead for personalized medicine, as well as the challenges in policy, business, and health care practice .
1) ObamaCare Threatens Personalized Medicine, Forbes – Dec 21, 2009
Gregory Conko of the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Henry I. Miller, a physician and a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, wrote a compelling op-ed this week on a topic we have discussed prominently at this blog – the need to align priorities for health care reform, particularly comparative effectiveness research, and personalized medicine. Conko and Miller point to the importance of taking into account the effects of a medicine on sub-populations and how the value of medicine (in terms of diversifying treatment indications) can increase over time. An approach to CER that lacks emphasis on such important advances may stunt the growth of personalized medicine.
As Tony Coelho pointed out at this blog last week, the language in the Senate version of the health care bill does provide for an approach to CER that embraces patient differences and focuses on providing information that will enable patients and providers to make more-informed decisions. We’ll be standing by on Christmas Eve to see if this is what we get!
2) Welcome to the Era of Personalized Medicine, Huffington Post – Dec 22, 2009
In this article, WIRED Editor Thomas Goetz suggests that the era of personalized medicine is not only about advances in pharmacogenomics, but also about how advances in bioinformatics and consumer-oriented tools are generating huge amounts of data that can inform a more personalized approach to care. Goetz contends, “Personalized medicine isn’t something that happens to us; it’s something that we have to choose to engage in.” With such an engaged patient population emerging, health care providers also need to consider how interactions will change with patients bringing self-generated records and research into discussions about their health care.
I look forward to seeing Goetz’s book The Decision Tree: Taking Control of Your Health in the New Era of Personalized Medicine in February. You can also check out the Decision Tree blog to hear more of his thoughts on predictive medicine and the future of health care.
3) Personalized Medicine Market To Grow 11% Annually, Pharmaceutical Executive – Dec 15, 2009
Earlier this month, PricewaterhouseCoopers released The new science of personalized medicine: Translating the promise into practice, highlighting how the “disruptive innovation” of personalized medicine is creating opportunities and challenges for traditional health care practice. In case you won’t have a chance to read the 50-page report, this article from Pharm Exec gives a great summary of its salient conclusions. Echoing Goetz’s suggestion that personalized medicine encompasses consumer-oriented products and services, the report contends that a growing emphasis on prevention and wellness is paving the way for advances in personalized medicine.
Tags: Comparative effectiveness research, Health care reform, Health information technology, Policy Issues
The Age of Personalized Medicine Blog 
March 14, 2010 at 12:47 AM |
outstanding post! great advice, will take on board!