How Could Genomics Bring Precision Medicine To Healthcare?

By 2025, between 100 million and 2 billion human genomes will have been sequenced, researchers said. What do medical research, companies or governments do with such an incredible amount of data? How could genomics bring DNA-based targeted treatments, personalized drugs, and individualized clinical methods, in other words, precision medicine to healthcare? Does disease categorize people? In the previous centuries, healthcare systems focused mainly on working out generalized solutions for treating ill people in as high numbers as possible. If cough syrup was good for the majority of the coughing masses and only two people had a rash as an allergic reaction to it, there was no question about treating a sore throat with cough syrup. Experience and empirical evidence on a generalized basis was the working method of the medical community since Hippocrates until around the beginning of the 20th century. Evidence-based medicine turned around the practice of relying on the wisdom of past doctors and traditions. As a consequence, nowadays physicians not only prescribe some pills because their ancestors used to do the same, but they proved the efficacy of treatments and diagnostic methods with the help of scientific tools, e.g., clinical studies. Research evidence and practical experience show why a sore throat is best treated with cough syrup, what are the side effects and how that could also be treated or avoided. Moreover, these pieces of evidence and experience are collected in clin...
Source: The Medical Futurist - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Biotechnology Business Genomics Healthcare Policy Medical Professionals Policy Makers Researchers future Gene genes Genetic testing genetics Genome genome sequencing Innovation personal genomics precision medicine predict Source Type: blogs