,,A Case Study of Personalized Medicine

A Case Study of Personalized Medicine


 

Publication Date: April 2008

Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science

Author(s): Sara Katsanis; Gail Javitt; Kathy Hudson

Research Area: Health

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.