
Rochester, Minn. – “Precision medicine” is becoming a national catchphrase after President Obama highlighted it in his State of the Union address.
But what exactly is it? Richard Weinshilboum, M.D., acting director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine, describes this new, rapidly advancing frontier in medicine and outlines 10 changes that would speed development and help more patients benefit from a personalized approach to health care:
What is precision medicine? In precision medicine, also called individualized medicine or personalized medicine, physicians use knowledge about a person’s personal genetic makeup to help determine the best plan for disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The mapping of the human genome in 2003 by U.S. scientists jump-started medical genomics; the Human Genome Project was an immense international collaboration that took 13 years and cost $3.8 billion. The National Institutes of Health’s National Human Genome Research Institute, which coordinated the project, estimates economic growth from that project at $798 billion.
"We are now poised to apply genomic technologies developed with the findings of the Human Genome Project into everyday patient care,” Dr. Weinshilboum says.
“However, if the U.S. is to remain the world leader in health care innovation and delivery, we need another national genomics effort that will accelerate scientific discovery and clinical implementation while continuing to encourage the rapid technological innovations and entrepreneurialism that have gotten us to this point."
MEDIA CONTACT: To schedule an interview with Dr. Weinshilboum or other Mayo Clinic individualized medicine experts, please contact Sam Smith or Robert Nellis in Mayo Clinic Public Affairs at 507-284-5005 or newsbureau@mayo.edu.
What would help the U.S. continue to lead in precision medicine? President Obama’s call for a national initiative to advance individualized medicine, including increased funding to the National Institutes of Health to support advances in precision medicine, is an important step, Dr. Weinshilboum says. Other moves that would help include:
What are some precision medicine terms that people might start hearing more frequently from physicians, researchers and policymakers?
For a longer glossary of individualized medicine terms, see the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine.
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About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to medical research and education, and providing expert, whole-person care to everyone who needs healing. For more information, visit http://www.mayoclinic.org/about-mayo-clinic or https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/.
About the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine
The Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine is home to the Individualized Medicine Clinic, the world's first integrated multidisciplinary genomics clinic, serving patients with advanced cancer and complex diagnoses. The center discovers and integrates the latest in genomic, molecular and clinical sciences into personalized care for each Mayo Clinic patient. Visit http://mayoresearch.mayo.edu/center-for-individualized-medicine for more information.
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