Every individual’s body is unique, and how it interacts with infections and diseases or responds to prescribed medicines is also different. So, to reduce the worst effects of chronic illnesses like diabetes and life-altering diseases like Alzheimer's, the therapies and regimens must also be tailored to the individual. Precision medicine, or personalized medicine, is rapidly gaining popularity in an ever-evolving world of customized healthcare. The innovative approach of tailoring disease treatment and prevention, taking into consideration the genetic and molecular makeup, environment, and lifestyle of an individual, has revolutionized medical management. Leveraging advanced analytics, big data, and deep learning, doctors and scientists are able to explore and solve patient’s distinct ailments as well as gather a better understanding of the mechanisms by which various diseases occur.
Personalized medicines are already becoming more effective thanks to individualized care. Approximately 90% of currently available conventional medications only work for 30% to 50% of patients. As personalized medicines are developed using patient risk profiles, medical histories, and genomic testing, personalized medicine produces superior results. As a result, there has been a noticeable rise in various malignancies' survivability rates recently, including myeloid leukemia. In fact, the most significant effects of precision medicine are expected in the most challenging areas of medicine, such as oncology, hematology, cardiovascular, and central nervous system disorders.
In recent years, emphasis on employing advanced analytics, patients data, and customized drugs has increased as more genetic databases are being developed. Precision drugs have accounted for around 35% of all therapeutic molecular entities approved by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the past five years. Additionally, a considerable number of brand-new personalized medicine indications for already-approved medications and medication combinations have been granted in recent years. Personalized medicine tactics are supported by in vitro diagnostic testing applications that have been authorized or cleared by the FDA's Centre for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH).
Although most precision medicines require companion diagnostics, only a small number of the largest pharmaceutical companies, like Roche, Abbott, and Novartis, have developed core capabilities in the development of biomarkers and diagnostics. More than 60 agreements have been finalized in this market in the past five years since the majority of precision medicine developers rely on smaller biotech and diagnostic enterprises to launch companion diagnostics. Leading pharmaceutical corporations anticipate increasing their investments in precision medicine by a third over the next five years.
Digital Technology Revolutionizing Personalised Medicine
By 2030, digital technology will be prevalent and powerful enough to advance all elements of civilization. The widespread use of wearable technologies facilitating continuous and real-time monitoring of health indicators and behaviors is contributing to the rich health data, which can help shape precision medicine models. If large investments are made in AI approaches by 2030, multilayer data from various sources may be integrated and interpreted in a novel and efficient manner. Through close cooperation with the pharmaceutical industry, clinical trial data can be made available to the medical community, which could boost patient access to cutting-edge medicines.
The time and expense required for pharmaceutical companies to develop effective targeted therapies are decreasing as a result of improved knowledge and understanding of disease mechanisms and the genetics of disease, access to vast amounts of genomic and traditional data, and software tools (AI and ML) to evaluate them. With access to genomic data, doctors can detect patient ailments more precisely. A growing number of pharmacogenomic trials are also creating databases with knowledge about the rate at which medications are metabolized by the body and the likelihood that specific side effects may manifest, which will ultimately help in the selection of successful treatments with the fewest side effects feasible. The latter is crucial because about 30% of acute hospital admissions each year are caused by reactions to unwanted side effects. Precision medicine will ideally result in shorter treatment times as well as greater response rates and fewer adverse effects.
Thanks to advancements in big data analytics technologies, future patient treatment will be standardized on precision medicine. AI and ML will assist with medication design and the identification of patients who will benefit most from a particular precision medicine, in addition to making it possible to analyze massive amounts of diverse data (such as genetic, clinical, and socioeconomic data, for example). On a broader scale, precision medicine is a promising approach to preventing and treating chronic diseases, as opposed to merely managing them, which leaves patients with poor health conditions in constant need of expensive medical treatment.
Theranostics: Future of Personalized Care & Precision Medicine
Theranostics refers to the method of using specialized targeted drugs for both imaging and treatment leveraging molecular imaging techniques such as Positron Emission Topography (PET) and Single Photon Emission Tomography (SPECT). It is emerging as a promising and constantly evolving therapeutic option for a number of diseases, including lymphoma, melanoma, neuroendocrine tumors, and prostate cancer. The ability to identify disease subgroups that are more likely to respond to targeted therapies may assist patients with cancer. With the advancement of imaging technologies and the continued search for innovative tracers for targeted therapies, industry leaders are enhancing the entire molecular imaging pipeline. Besides, theranostics allows non-invasive and recurrent evaluation of the chemical uptake and characterization of the tumor tissue as well as the development of therapeutic response.
Theranostic target pairings have been developed, validated, and successfully applied to treat neuroendocrine tumors, lymphomas, neuroblastomas, and, more recently, various forms of prostate cancer. In areas like prostate and other malignancies, there is still a significant demand for further diagnostic and therapeutic combinations to improve the quality of life and outcomes for cancer patients. For instance, the developer of radiopharmaceutical products, Radiopharm Theranostics, has collaborated with TerThera to supply the Company with Terbium-161, which would be used in cancer therapy. The isotope may increase cancer patients' treatment options while offering Radiopharm a competitive edge as it begins a Phase 1 clinical trial.
Opportunities for precision medicine by 2030
Genomics for Diseases
Personalized/precision genomic medicine (P4 medicine) involves the use of a patient's genomic profile to divide patients into groups (based on their sub-type of disease and response to drug therapies) and then provide each group with precise treatment tailored to the group's genomic profile. P4 medicine explains how personalized genomic medicine not only predicts patient response to therapy but also their likelihood of developing an illness, allowing them to take part in treatments that lower the risks. The widespread adoption of genomics can be attributed to the rapidly declining cost of genomic sequencing, owing to the advances in sequencing technology and economies of scale. As genomics becomes more accessible, it will pave the way for enhanced adoption of personalized medicine. Moreover, the advent of personalized genomic medicine provides an opportunity to maintain a healthy population. Gene sequencing can help evaluate the risk of the transmission of inherited diseases, which might prevent the transfer of life-threatening genetic conditions from one generation to another.
Pharmacogenomics
Pharmacogenomics is the study of the various genetic elements that regulate drug metabolism and how medical interventions can be tailored to a patient's unique genetic profile. By choosing specific medication therapies and adjusting drug dosage levels, therapies can be tailored based on a patient's genetic profile to maximise treatment outcomes. Other advantages of pharmacogenomics include reduced drug toxicity, lower hospital admissions, and enhanced efficiency of the treatment. In 2022, Thermo Fisher and Qatar Genome program collaborated to advance precision medicine to accelerate genomic research and clinical applications of predictive genomics. According to the agreement, Thermo Fisher and Qatar Genome Program will use whole genome sequencing data from 19 Arab nations to create an Axiom bespoke genotyping array for pan-Arab populations. The array, which has roughly 800,000 variants, intends to advance scientific research and understanding of ailments such as diabetes, cancer, inherited genetic disorders, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, autism, and more.
Neurology
Similar to cancer, a number of neurological conditions, including Parkinson's disease, Lewy body dementia, and Alzheimer's disease, can be viewed as continuums in which the presence and manifestations of the conditions vary depending on the stage of the disease. Understanding this continuum can be difficult because neurological illnesses have so many different mixed etiologies. For instance, the accumulation of amyloid is one of the fundamental pathogenic causes of Alzheimer's disease. Both preclinical and moderate Alzheimer's patients may have an amyloid-based mechanism; however, the preclinical stage of the illness is distinguished by a lesser aggregation of amyloid than the moderate stage.
Currently, there is a clear trend in neurology toward the application of precision medicine. Data from many sources are being merged to produce more individualized diagnoses and prognoses for neurological diseases. These data sources include everything from whole genome sequencing and family history to brain and body MRIs and computed tomography imaging. Healthcare practitioners can transition from a "one size fits all" strategy to a precise, personalized, and more efficient approach to treatment and care planning by using and comprehending highly personalized data.
Way Ahead
Advances in technology, such as DNA and RNA, as well as computational tools, like artificial intelligence and machine learning, are expected to accelerate the drug discovery and development process. Integrating relevant data about patients, diseases, and clinically relevant data can help develop new cancer medicines customized to specific patient groups. However, building a future where personalized medicine is an option for everyone, continued partnerships between companies and institutions running clinical trials could help to manifest vision into reality.
According to TechSci Research report on “Global Precision Medicine Market By Products & Services (Precision Medicine Platforms, Precision Medicine Tools, Precision Medicine Services), By Technology (Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Bioinformatics, Whole Genome Sequencing, Companion Diagnostics, NGS, Others), By Application (Oncology, Cardiology, Respiratory, Neurology, Immunology, Others), By End User (Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Companies, Healthcare IT, Diagnostic Companies, Clinical Research Organization, Research Institutes), By Region, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2026”, the global precision medicine was valued USD66.85 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD125.67 billion by 2026. Factors attributing to the growth are rising geriatric population and growing R&D expenditure across different countries across the globe.