Personalized Medicine: The Future of Health Care

BACKGROUND: Most medical treatments have been designed for the “average patients”. As a result of this “one-size-fits-all-approach”, treatments can be very successful for some patients but not for others. The issue is shifting by the new innovation approach in diseases treatment and prevention, precision medicine, which takes into account individual differences in people's genes, environments, and lifestyles. This review was aimed to describe a new approach of healthcare performance strategy based on individual genetic variants. CONTENT: Researchers have discovered hundreds of genes that harbor variations contributing to human illness, identified genetic variability in patients' responses to different of treatments, and from there begun to target the genes as molecular causes of diseases. In addition, scientists are developing and using diagnostic tests based on genetics or other molecular mechanisms to better predict patients' responses to targeted therapy. SUMMARY: Personalized medicine seeks to use advances in knowledge about genetic factors and biological mechanisms of disease coupled with unique considerations of an individual's patient care needs to make healthcare more safe and effective. As a result of these contributions to improvement in the quality of care, personalized medicine represents a key strategy of healthcare reform.