No two patients in the world are alike, and not only because the disease can affect different organs. Certain characteristics of the same disease can also vary from patient to patient. Researchers are developing medical test systems to detect such differences. By examining blood and tissue samples, collecting and analyzing genetic information, scientists seek to identify specific characteristics of the disease. Based on the data collected, it becomes possible to treat patients with an “individualized” drug that is ideally “suited” to the particular case. This form of targeted therapy, based on a prior diagnosis, is called precision medicine.
Thus, precision medicine is a branch of medicine that uses information about human genes, proteins and internal environment to prevent, diagnose and treat disease. Precision medicine is used for many diseases, including cancer, coronary heart disease, HIV/AIDS, hyperlipidemia, cystic fibrosis, and alcohol abuse disorders. Precision medicine in the context of oncology refers to the use of therapeutic interventions that are expected to benefit a subset of patients who have specific molecular or cellular features of the malignancy, such as genomic changes or protein expression patterns.
In the previous period, treatment recommendations were based primarily on pathologic characteristics of the tumor. Thanks to precision medicine, recommendations can target amenable genomic drivers regardless of localization, tumor origin, or histological type.
Thus, in 30-49% of patients who undergo genomic profiling of a tumor, there may be treatable changes, for some of which an approved or investigational drug can be selected. Advances in genome sequencing technology have facilitated the use of precision medicine in oncology.
Oncology is at the forefront of precision medicine: by 2019, for example, more than 160 cancer biomarkers have been approved, and more than 90 percent of key studies target molecular targets.
Precision medicine has been successfully used to identify patients with amenable mutations that would benefit from targeted therapies, as well as tumor markers to aid in diagnosis.
Patients with targeted therapies may benefit more than patients who receive therapies without target matching. Targeted drugs have fewer side effects, and their use can prevent exposure to unnecessary, ineffective treatment regimens. Through the use of precision medicine, patients can achieve very high response rates to systemic treatment.