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It’s far more important to know what person the disease has than what disease the person has.

– Hippocrates

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Overview

As DNA sequencing becomes faster, less expensive, and more accessible, a new era in medicine is approaching. It is now possible to sequence and analyze an individual's genome in order to determine potential health risks and ancestral origins. Using this information, scientists can recommend changes in lifestyle or create customized medicines, altered to perfectly fit the individual's genome, just like the perfect pair of jeans. However, are there potential risks? How far can the altering of one's genome go before it becomes unethical?

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What is personalized medicine?

Personalized medicine is a term used to describe drugs and treatments that are tailored to a fit a specific patient's needs. By using their personal genome, experts can determine which treatments have the greatest chance of being effective and successful, or narrow down specific areas in their genome that need to be corrected.

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Currently, most medicines on the market are created to fit the general population instead of the unique individual. Although these treatments can be effective for some people, there is a large percentage for whom it is ineffective. This method is almost akin to healthcare professionals utilizing a "trial and error" method, putting their patients' lives on the line. The graphic below shows a few of the drugs that are ineffective for a large percentage of a given patient population.

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In the future, scientists hope to transform modern day healthcare by raising the effectiveness of all treatments. Personalized medicine will not only allow doctors to determine the most effective treatment for a sick patient, but it will allow them to treat the patient before the symptoms even start to appear. 

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What are the benefits?

Some benefits of personalized medicine include:

  • medicine will shift to an emphasis on prevention rather than reaction

  • trail and error prescriptions will be eliminated

  • negative reactions to drugs and treatments will be avoided

  • patients will stick to their treatment plan because it works better for them

  • the cost of healthcare can potentially be lowered by reducing inefficiencies

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