Just because you know someone suffers from heart disease or cancer or something similar means you might also face the same condition. This is where precision-made comes in handy.
Genes that you inherited from your parents or the environment you were raised in can largely shape and influence your health. This also includes the symptoms you carry, the diagnosis of the issue, and how well the treatments will work upon you.
A Futuristic Vision
Remember that medicine is not a one-size-fits-all case. So a treatment might have done wonders on someone, like a tumor or arthritic symptoms have eased down. Under no circumstances should you believe that it will work for you too, even if you seem to suffer from a similar case. Try and picture this – you have a fair idea of how your cancer or nerve ailments differ from someone else’s. Accordingly, you get a treatment that’s tailor-made for you and not the other person. This wouldn’t have been possible had precision medicine not come to the rescue.
At its core, this is all about matching the appropriate drugs to the exact situation or the exact people suffering from it. While attempts are in full swing, you must note that this has not been possible in every disease till now. Your doctor might be equally aware of precision medication but can provide the standard drugs that others get in the unavailability of the ‘precise’ medicines.
The Process Has Begun
For a variety of diseases and ailments, this hasn’t been implemented in reality. However, precision medicine is making a huge difference already in the treatment of several cancers. Researchers delve more into the issue and make the necessary changes regarding the classification of tumors. For example, the genetics of few breast cancers resemble that of stomach tumors (and not other breast cancers). Using precision medicine, cancers that resemble others in the genetic pattern are administered similar treatments.
One good example is the drug called ‘imatinib (Gleevec)’ that is popular to treat leukemia after cancer cells have similar genetic makeup. Instead of treating everyone having leukemia with Gleevec, doctors conduct tests on people who have the specific genetic mix and provide the drug to only those who have it. The approach decision comes after studying people and their medications for lungs, breasts, colorectal cancers, and melanoma.
No one can assure that traditional drugs would cure cancer. In much the same way, precision medicines cannot be permanent cures either. Cancers, of course, delve over time and can build a tough resistance towards the treatment. Besides, few drugs work for only a portion of the tumor, and the remaining parts keep growing.
Basket Trials
To carry out tests further, researchers have adopted a practice called ‘Basket Trials.’ One important thing about this process is the ‘basket’ based on cancer’s genetics and not the reallocation in the body. To take an example, researchers in a basket trial are testing the efficacy of cancer drugs when people having different types of cancers are grouped. The treatments received are largely based on the genetics of the tumor. At present, researchers can only hope the output will reflect the success rate of precision medicines.
Looking Beyond Genetics
While precision medicines take into account genetics, the reality is that the complete focus is not on that. Doctors could use few other methods to gauge what kind of customization is necessary for a certain patient or groups of patients.
These include the perfect diet and which is only for the concerned person (it could be you), tests to find if bacteria is present in the digestive system, and blood samples to get an idea of the immune cells. When doctors get a fair knowledge of what the individual has and can respond to, then the drugs administered will likely have the potential to work out. But before that, doctors need to figure out in full what would help the person (or you) stay healthy.
As a form of personalized medical care, precision medicine is gaining momentum. And it won’t be long that the potential long-term benefits will bear the best results. So, make sure you talk about this to your doctor and try to see how you could benefit from it.