Personalized medicine is more than a trend. This innovative subcategory of medicine is expanding at an impressive rate, with renowned research centers such as Harvard, Stanford, and Duke leading the way. In fact, the market is now worth a staggering $232 billion a year and according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the market is expected to grow by 11 percent annually, with an estimated value of $452 billion by 2015. This is just one of the many reasons personalized medicine has attracted the attention of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Also called “individualized” or “customized” medicine, personalized medicine offers tremendous benefits for patients of all kinds—including mesothelioma patients.

According to Harvard Medical School’s Partners Healthcare Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine (PCPGM), personalized medicine is the ability to determine an individual’s unique molecular characteristics and to use those genetic distinctions to:

• Diagnose more finely an individual’s disease
• Reduce possible adverse reactions
• Select treatments that increase the chances of a successful outcome

Personalized medicine also helps predict an individual’s susceptibility to diseases and thus to try to shape steps that may help avoid or reduce the extent to which an individual will experience a disease, says the PCPGM.

Individualized diagnosis, treatment, and prevention are crucial to the fight against mesothelioma and other types of cancers. The FDA recognizes the role personalized  medicine can play in treating and preventing mesothelioma, so in October 2013 the Administration released a 61-page report that, among other things, highlighted its commitment to personalized medicine and the major role it will play in helping it advance.

The FDA plans to help further personalized medicine by focusing on advancing regulatory science.

Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. and Commissioner of Food and Drugs, says “I have made it a priority to continue to evolve the FDA’s regulatory processes in response to—and in anticipation of—scientific developments that are critical for the development of personalized therapeutics and diagnostics.”

Thanks to this commitment, a number of breakthroughs in genetic research have made it possible for researchers to target specific genetic mutations, which will help lead them to new and more effective mesothelioma treatments. While a traditional approach to mesothelioma treatment may very well be effective in some cases, researchers say that if treatment is more individualized based on the patients unique, specific traits, it will fulfill its purpose to better diagnose an individual’s disease, reduce adverse reactions, and increase the chances of a positive outcome following treatment (as mentioned earlier). This individual approach to treatment will also minimize or eliminate the need to participate in experimental treatments and ease patient fears based on the idea that a personalized treatment path offers more promise than a one-size-fits-all approach to treating mesothelioma.

If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, talk to your doctor about personalized medicine and how it can be used to enhance your treatment options. It’s also best to contact an attorney at MRHFM to discuss your rights as a mesothelioma victim. MRHFM is the largest firm devoted exclusively to helping mesothelioma victims and their families.

Sources

Harvard Medical School Partners Healthcare Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine (PCPGM)
PCPGM.partners.org

PricewaterhouseCoopers
PWC.com

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Paving the Way for Personalized Medicine: FDA’s Role in a New Era of Medical Product Development, October 2013
FDA.gov

U.S. Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health
Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov