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A Case Study of Personalized Medicine
Publication Date: April 2008
Publisher(s): American Association for the Advancement of Science
Author(s): Sara Katsanis; Gail Javitt; Kathy Hudson
Topic: Health (Pharmaceutical services)
Health (Medical research and technology)
Keywords: Personalized medicine; Pharmacogenetics
Type: Other
Coverage: United States
Abstract:
Personalized medicine through pharmacogenetics promises to revolutionize health care by harnessing individual genetic information to improve drug safety
and efficacy. Under a personalized medicine scheme, drug prescribing and dosing no longer would be "one size fits all" but would be carefully tailored to a patient's individual genetic variants.
To date, there have been only a few genetic biomarkers whose clinical validity in predicting drug response has been clearly established: HER2-positive breast cancer as a predictor of response to the drug Herceptin being perhaps the best known. However, some foresee the emergence of many more such tests.
In Science, v.320, April 4, 2008, p.54; erratum April 18, 2008.