Breakthrough in Personalized Medicine in Cancer Treatment
There has been a recent breakthrough in skin cancer treatment.
A targeted drug was able to reduce tumors from the bodies of 80% patients with terminal melanoma. We have discussed about the importance and role of the personalized medicines in general and in the area of genetic diseases. This latest study is a very important breakthrough and further reinforces the importance of adopting stratified medicines for more diseases.
Recent studies have shown that many doctors do not have enough experience on how to handle the genetic information and need to go a long way to catch up with the latest trends and technologies in this field. Since centuries, doctors are used to the traditional way of diagnosis and treatment. Patients suffering from a disease have been treated the same way and using the same medicines, even though, it was established a long time ago that every person is genetically different. Doctors using the new technologies that treat a disease down to the DNA level are at the fore front of this new revolution and they are able to treat each individual patient with minimum side effects that a drug-for-all would cause.
Unique genetic setup and abnormalities for each patient change the way the patients respond to the same drugs. Many patients, especially suffering from cancer, are already benefiting from targeted and specific treatment the personalized medicines provide. It's not too far away when each patient will receive different treatment and drugs customized to what the patient's genes will respond to positively. Doctors and patients will not have to worry about the side effects and about the drugs that do not work for the patients.
Personalized medicines have the potential to revolutionize not only the medical treatment and drug development but the whole health care system all around the world. Fewer side-effects and more positive results in the treatment will lead to an improvement in the overall health of the society and reduced healthcare expenses.
What do you think of this new breakthrough? Do you think that this will lead to more doctors and researchers embracing the idea of personalized medicines for treatment? Do you have personal experience that you would like to share?