Ten Years into Personalized Medicine: What We’ve Learned and What’s Next

Originally posted on Healthcommentary.org on January 17, 2014

Ten years ago, the sequencing of the entire human genome, along with the development of aggregate “omics” technologies began giving rise to a fundamentally new capability for the practice of medicine – the ability to predict and track disease risks on a personalized basis, to understand diseases mechanistically, and to target therapy to treat an individual’s specific disease.

Based on the potential impact of these technologies, I predicted in my 2002 Chairman’s address to the Association of American Medical Colleges, that medicine would be transformed from being disease-focused and reactive to being proactive and personalized. I believed that the “one-size-fits-all” approach to disease care was outmoded and would soon be replaced by one that would prevent and treat disease on a personalized basis.

Since its inception ten years ago, many of those predictions have been realized; personalized medicine has begun to have major impacts on components of medical practice and has engendered health care industries estimated to grow to $450 billion by 2015 with $42 billion related to drugs, devices, and diagnostics. Molecular diagnostics have gained traction in cardiology, rheumatology, transplantation, endocrinology, and, in particular, oncology. Targeted therapies have revolutionized cancer therapy and whole genome sequencing is providing insights into baseline health risks and understanding of some diseases. However, while the use of personalized medicine tools to treat disease is gaining traction, the transformation of medical practice to being proactive, strategic, and personalized; i.e., personalized health care, has been slow to develop.

There is, however, evidence that this movement is gaining momentum and with increases in health care consumerism, a more predictable regulatory environment, and changes in medical reimbursement to reward better outcomes, the adoption of personalized health care is inevitable. Personalized medicine will go beyond the use of technologies to individualize disease care to finally transforming the approach to care itself by enabling individuals and care providers to foster proactive, personalized care. In turn, the clinical adoption of proactive, personalized care will broaden the need for personalized medicine technologies thus spurring the growth of this industry.

Appreciating the value of a ten-year review of personalized medicine, the Personalized Medicine World Conference will host, and I will moderate, a panel discussion titled, “Ten Years into Personalized Medicine: What We’ve Learned & What’s Next” on January 27, 2014 in Mountain View, Calif., with luminaries including Kim Popovits of Genomic Health, Randy Scott from InVitae, Brook Byers of KPCB, and Jay Flatley from Illumina, opining on what they initially anticipated, what they’ve learned, and what’s coming next.