A Paradigm Shift in Personalized Medication
Personalized medication remains a hot topic in the pharma industry so it is important that we get the freshest insight regarding the role it plays at present, and what effects said role will have on the immediate future.
Providing some substance to the aforementioned, the IP and Science business of Thompson Reuters announced the publication of a new report entitled Spotlight on Personalized Medicine, which provides a wide-ranging perspective of the effects of personalized medicine on drug research and development.
The report is composed of a number of building blocks made of some juicy inside information from Thompson Reuters Cortellis for Competitive Intelligence and an assortment of facts and figures from the affiliated CMR International.
The report yielded a picture which illustrates the current challenges posed by the paradigm of stratified medicine, as well as its clinical, economical and of course societal value.
VOICING THE MATTER
Thompson Reuters MD Jon-Brett Harris had this to say, “An array of scientific and market factors have prompted the pharma industry to question the sustainability of the current R&D model, which targets large populations with chronic unmet medical needs.”
“Despite the commercial success of these products, the one-size-fits-all focus has resulted in spiraling R&D costs, longer development timelines and narrow product portfolios. New options, specifically personalized medicine, appear to be an attractive and more sustainable solution. This new report offers a detailed look into the possible advantages and disadvantages of this potentially game-changing approach.”
ADVANTAGES
According to the report, some of the advantages of adopting a stratified paradigm may result in efficient ways of conducting drug development, as well as increased public awareness in relation to post-marketing withdrawals of popular drugs and debates concerning drug pricing and reimbursement.
The report also suggested that the ability to better assess biological factors related to disease and therapy at the genetic level inspires the development of safer and more effective treatments for subgroups that are patient specific.
DISADVANTAGES
However, the shortfall of this approach (the report suggests) is based on numerous existing challenges that could affect a mass integration of the personalized medicine paradigm into biopharmaceutical engineering R&D. These include “connecting the dots” between genetic variation, disease association, patients segments with those variations, clinical trial design and patient recruitment in the clinic.
STAY TUNED
Once again, the “mixed-bag-of-results” scenario emerges. We at eyeforpharma however will constantly fill you in on updates which will serve to clarify as to whether the proposed approach is working.