As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to reshape our lives and alter prevailing perceptions about the future of medicine and health care, PMC President Edward Abrahams has written a key article in The Journal of Precision Medicine, titled “Personalized Medicine in the Aftermath of COVID-19.”
Precision medicine
Personalized or precision medicine concerns moving away from genetic drugs to treat diseases to developing drugs for smaller numbers or individual patients, often by assessing the genetic make-up of people. The healthcare system as a whole is demanding more personalized prescriptions in an effort to improve care and reduce costs.
READ MORE: Technological solutions for precision medicine
The new article demonstrates that despite the challenges of the moment, the aftermath of this crisis may present new opportunities to advance personalized medicine in pursuit of a brighter future for both patients and health systems.
The widespread adoption of social distancing measures, according Abrahams “has added another layer of significance to conversations about the value of diagnostic tools that could have helped target prevention strategies to the most at-risk populations without subjecting everyone to devastating social and financial consequences.”
As Abrahams further states that researchers have already begun to turn to personalized medicine to understand the widely variable effects of the new virus.
Moreover, in the U.S. Congress, the members of the newly formed Personalized Medicine Caucus have committed to educating their colleagues on the benefits of personalized medicine and to exploring potential policy barriers to adoption.
In this ever changing environment, Abrahams concludes: “the opportunity of personalized medicine is ours to seize.”
