Thanks to rapid technological developments it is now possible to gather information about people, not only to compare representative groups (health, ill, etc.), but also individuals.
In the future this will enable scientists to define types of disease and develop much more accurate diagnostic methods, thereby paving the way for new tailored therapies.
Precision medicine is defined as tailoring treatment to the needs of an individual based on the patient’s unique genetic profile and specific biomarkers. Precision medicine of the future will use analyses of genes, proteins and metabolites in the blood as a basis for targeted therapy, so that a large proportion of patients receive the right drugs in the right doses. Precision can be further enhanced if account is also taken of other patient information such as risk, lifestyle and environmental factors.