“I want the country that eliminated polio and
mapped the human genome to lead a new era of medicine – one that delivers the
right treatment at the right time. In some patients with cystic fibrosis, this
approach has reversed a disease once thought unstoppable. Tonight, I'm
launching a new Precision Medicine Initiative to bring us closer to curing
diseases like cancer and diabetes – and to give all of us access to the
personalized information we need to keep ourselves and our families healthier.”
This
quote, from President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on January 28th
2014, marked the start of a federal effort to shift the way in which diseases
are treated. President Obama coined the program the “Precision Medicine
Initiative”, and its goal is to shift the paradigm of disease treatment from a
“one-fits all” model to a more personalized approach. To support this effort,
$215 million has been budgeted for investment in organizations such as the
National Institutes of Health (NIH), the FDA, and the Office
of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
With this funding,
these organizations have set goals of enrolling millions of individuals in
research programs to track and house a multitude of factors that contribute to
the individuals’ well being. With this information, a database is to be set up
to house all of the data that is collected through the research. The database
will contain a multitude of information such as medical records, gene profiles,
lifestyle activities and more. From this, the government hopes to generate new
advancements in biomedicine that will allow physicians to tailor treatment
options to the individual, so that diseases can be diagnosed and treated on an
individual and more personal basis. The research will focus on establishing
patterns among individuals, and scientists will analyze how individuals are
similar in terms of their genetic makeup, lifestyle choices, environmental
exposures, and many other factors. Using this information, patients can be classified
into subpopulations for which a specific treatment can be developed to be
better combat disease.
The benefits of
this approach are plentiful. The most obvious of these is that physicians will
be able to fine-tune treatments for individuals so that diseases can be
diagnosed and treated in a targeted manner. It will also allow individuals
access to their own health profile, giving them a sense of empowerment and
control over their health. In turn this could empower individuals and families
to take action against destructive lifestyle choices that may be affecting
their health. Having this knowledge at one’s own fingertips in this easy of a
manner could kick start a desire to change unhealthy habits.
More
importantly in my mind, this program encourages private and public programs to
work together. Reading “The Genome War” opened my eyes as to the pride that
researchers feel towards their work, as well as the disdain that is held when
that work is purely sought after to put money in the pockets of corporations.
This program offers incentive for both sides, both academia and the private
sector. Research institutions such as NIH will be receiving funding to carry
out the research and organization behind the database. What this research
uncovers will then pave the way for better treatments and drugs to combat
specific forms or types of diseases that are seen in individuals with patterns
of genetic and lifestyle characteristics. I view this relationship as a very
important and necessary one. Too often is research halted or completely
abandoned due to a lack of funding. The private sector has the money to fund
such research, but there is no motive from a business standpoint to invest in
“basic research” that may not turn up anything of value. This Precision
Medicine Initiative is giving researchers the initial funding they need to
prove that personalized medicine is the future, and I believe that once the
ball gets rolling the private sector will realize the value in the approach. Hopefully
this will motivate the private sector to invest in this research without losing sight of the goal: to improve the lives of those living with the diseases that give their products purpose.
This is really interesting because Obama also called for the National Bioethics Committee (not the actual name, it's in my post) to determine the morality of embryonic stem cell research. Because of his call to action regarding today's medicine, so many advances have been made in terms of research. He has established Obama Care, which gives more Americans access to affordable, quality health insurance, and has opened the doors for an incredible amount of research projects that will allow for so much improvement in today's health care and in the general knowledge regarding medicine.
ReplyDeleteThe personalization of medicine is vital for proper treatment and care for patients and I am glad that as a nation, steps are being taken to emphasis this approach. I have personally been in medical situations where I have felt powerless, merely subject to what others thought and presented before me, or wrongly compared to previous cases or different situations. Through personalizing medicine and treatment practices, the rigid, conforming, textbook like diagnoses will be removed for medicine to become more of a living, breathing practice. The formation of strong partnerships and interdisciplinary collaboration will provide a more holistic approach to healthcare while simultaneously focusing on the direct problem at hand. I like your usage of the term “empowerment” regarding an outcome of precision medicine. Dealing with disease and illness is stressful enough without the added strain of feeling like a lame duck. Therefore by providing patients with more information and better understanding, alleviating the sense of hopelessness in my opinion will greatly improve their medical journey. I am excited to see how precision medicine unfolds in the future.
ReplyDeleteHaving already looked into the Precision Medicine Initiative, I will say that it looks to be a very exciting project and has the potential to be one of the most innovative and prosperous medical ventures in history. It amazes me to think that, in the near future, so much of my medical history as well as my susceptibility towards certain diseases and disorders will be so easily accessible. I am also in awe over the fact that it is truly pushing forward the idea of "Personalized Medicine" so to ensure that any type of treatment I receive is truly effective and responsive to whatever ailment I may develop. I do agree with your argument about how the private and public sectors should work together on this initiative. The Genome War displays a prime example of what happens when the private and public sectors decide to hide their work from the other: instead of actual progress, the project will turn into a competition in which the reward will be pride along with a delayed impact on those who need it most, the patients. Collaboration is key when a project like this impacts so many lives, in this case a majority of the American public.
ReplyDeleteThis does seem like a very good thing for medical research. It seems to me that we may be at just about the limit of the effectiveness of "one-fits all" methods of treatment and prevention. It served us well for the vaccines and cures we have now, but for diseases like cancer there has to be a more precise method than chemotherapy. However I wonder what other people think about the fact that any politician, not necessarily President Obama in particular, was able to direct the application of most future government funding in the medical field. Obviously, it is good for different labs to communicate and work together, and I think this was the right choice of topics, but could this lead to flip-flopping of research focus areas when new presidents are elected? Or has it been like this ever since Roosevelt's War on Polio?
ReplyDeleteI find the idea of "Precision Medicine" slightly...optimistic. In today's health climate, everything is about cutting costs, cutting costs, and cutting costs. While I agree that medicine could benefit from a more personalized approach, I question the feasibility of the implementation of this research on a large scale.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is true that the industry is about cutting costs, I have contacts inside of the pharmaceutical industry who have told me in the past that when the big picture is looked at, the concept of individualized medicine is actually projected by some of the major players to end up reducing the overall cost to the medical process by increasing the effectiveness of treatments and reducing overall healthcare usage. The really interesting part is that this is actually beneficial to the top echelon of these 'big' companies, as their individualized medicine, while decreasing long-term consumer cost, is placed at a premium and increased corporate profit.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the title, I thought this would be an article about the new technology they are testing to deliver medicine to a targeted area through the use of micro- or nanoparticles. However, the targeted approach in this article seems it would be much more effective once enough research has been completed. This however, may take years in order to gather the data required to make it a useful approach. Even though they may want to increase the effectiveness of medicine and in turn decrease the costs, I believe many companies will disagree with it unless it continues to provide profit.[
ReplyDeleteAlthough I absolutely agree that precision medicine is a great way to change the outcomes and quality of life for millions of Americans and people all around the world, I see a point here that, in my opinion, should be addressed. Although the database that will be created for this project will ultimately yield great returns, the thought of having one's entire medical and behavioral life on a server somewhere raises some red flags. To begin, this server has to be, in my opinion, one of the most secure around. If this were hacked, the outcomes are rather scary, as hackers could change the lives of the victims by selling or using their personal information against them. Also, with the past failures and breaches of the "Obamacare" or Affordable Care Act website, I would be very apprehensive about giving up all that personal information.
ReplyDeleteThere is little I can add to the previous comments. I believe that personalized medicine will not increase the cost of medication but help save a lot of money. I also agree with Justin. To me, the only problem with this approach is the personal information one must give up to receive personalized medication. It is obvious that without such information, this approach is impossible. How is such personal information stored? To whom will this personal information be accessible? How can our personal information be kept personal? These are the problems that must be solved so that precision medicine can be applied.
ReplyDeleteI think with the huge funding, there soon will be a lot of new advancements in science field. Additionally, with the personalized medicine, I think people will be much more aware of their health. Also, to make this project become real, I think we will need a lot of man power to run the healthcare system since the database is going to be huge. This will be a whole job market and help reduce the number of unemployed people.
ReplyDelete