TAG:
personalized medicine
Personalized medicine or PM is a medical model that proposes the customization of healthcare, with medical decisions, practices, and/or products being tailored to the individual patient. In this model, diagnostic testing is often employed for selecting appropriate and optimal therapies based on the context of a patient’s genetic content or other molecular or cellular analysis.
The use of genetic information has played a major role in certain aspects of PM. and the term was first coined in the context of genetics, though it has since broadened to encompass all sorts of personalization measures.
Personalized medicine is not limited to pharmaceutical therapy. Advances in computational power and medical imaging are paving the way for personalized medical treatments that consider a patient’s genetic, anatomical and physiological characteristics.
Several terms, including “precision medicine,” “targeted medicine” and “pharmacogenomics” are sometimes used interchangeably with “personalized medicine.”
According to the FDA, the term is often described as providing ‘the right patient with the right drug at the right dose at the right time.’ More broadly, PM may be thought of as the tailoring of medical treatment to the individual characteristics, needs, and preferences of a patient during all stages of care, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up.
Advances in genetic and molecular knowledge about different diseases are widely expected to generate more opportunities for PM products and services. Clinical laboratories and pathology groups are continually developing new capabilities in molecular diagnostics, such as the analysis of DNA, RNA, and the human proteome.
Reimbursement policies will have to be redefined to fit the changes that PM will bring to the healthcare system. Some of the factors that will be considered are the level of efficacy of various genetic tests in the general population, cost-effectiveness relative to benefits, how to deal with payment systems for extremely rare conditions, and how to redefine the insurance concept of “shared risk” to incorporate the effect of the newer concept of “individual risk factors.”
Multi-Modality Diagnosis Heading for Lab Medicine
CEO Summary: At the upcoming Molecular Summit in Philadelphia on February 10-11, 2009, pathologists, molecular imaging experts, and informaticians will share the latest developments on the integration of in vivo (imaging) and in vitro (pathology) diagnost…
LabCorp And Quest Report 3rd Quarter Financial Performance
CEO Summary: In third quarter earnings reports, both national lab companies posted modest gains in specimen volume, revenue, and net profit. More telling is the relative quiet in the current market for lab testing services. With no obvious opportunities to fuel double-digit rates of growt…
Hospital Labs Have New Options for Molecular Dx
CEO SUMMARY: Laboratories that offer molecular assays continue to see strong growth in four areas: oncology, hematopathology, infectious diseases, and personalized medicine. Further, a new generation of molecular testing systems and analyzers is coming to market which will make it easier …
Powerful Trends Reshaping Anatomic Path Profession
CEO SUMMARY: THE DARK REPORT presents its newest biannual review of macro trends reshaping the anatomic pathology profession. These macro trends reveal a profession undergoing change and transformation on multiple fronts. New competitors are crowding into the market, payers and accreditin…
Beckman Coulter, Biosite, Inverness, MedTox, Group Health, Henry Ford, Johns Hopkins
BECKMAN COULTER HOPES TO COMPLETE ACQUISITION OF BIOSITE FINGERS ARE CROSSED at Beckman Coulter, Inc., as the company hopes to complete its acquisition of Biosite, Inc., by tomorrow night (May 15 at midnight). Its original offer to …
Joint Venture Launches Molecular Pathology Lab
CEO SUMMARY: As genomic medicine advances, researchers into various diseases quickly recognize the need to incorporate molecular pathologists onto their teams. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, a large integrated health system and a private research institute have come together to jointly fund a…
March 12, 2007 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
It’s the first opportunity to see how a New York-area laboratory is doing at grabbing UnitedHealth business. Bio-Reference Laboratories, Inc. (BRLI) of Elmwood Park, New Jersey, announced earnings for its first quarter (ending on January 31) in its 2007 fiscal year…
November 6, 2006 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
There’s regulatory relief for California labs in the important area of technical staff licensing. California’s Department of Health Services (DHS) has approved the Board of Registry medical technologist (MT) examination administered by the American Society of Clinical Pat…
August 14, 2006 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Here’s some useful information for pathologists and practice administrators trying to gauge the interest that urologists, gastroenterologists, and dermatologists have in capturing the anatomic pathology revenues generated by their patient referrals (the TC/PC trend). Pathology Service Assoc…
More IVD Consolidation: DPC Sells to Siemens
CEO SUMMARY: It is a significant acquisition, and not just because Diagnostic Products Corporation has a major presence in immunodiagnostics. Siemens Medical Solutions is one of the dominant competitors in radiology. Its willingness to pony up almost $2 billion t…
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