I n 2003, the National Human Genome Research Institute announced that the human genome had been mapped. The 13-year effort to sequence 2.85 billion nucleotides gave medical professionals and researchers a blueprint for human development and function, and they have been busy ever since collecting data on individual genetic makeups.
The burgeoning field of precision medicine seeks to use that data to select more effective courses of treatment for patients, both medically and financially. Managing treatment choices and predicting health outcomes is at the center of the movement, with physicians and researchers beginning to use genetic information as a basis for determining susceptibility to particular diseases, and potentially, a patient’s likely response to treatment. From there, health care providers could group patients with similar genetics and tailor their treatment to be optimally effective and cost-efficient, forging new opportunities not only in clinical settings but also for pharmaceutical research and development.
This has profound implications for human health and for spending on health care, which continues to soar. Although modern medicine is often significantly more successful than the methods of the past, the approach is prevailingly one-size-fits-all. This could be curbed by precision medicine. The possibilities for the future are endless, but there will be an up-front cost to getting the field off the ground. As noted by the National Institutes of Health, establishing new technologies will cost millions of dollars, plus the costs of data storage, legal issues, policy changes and training within the medical field.
That is the price of breaking new ground. And if precision medicine is developed to the point of predicting individual risks for particular diseases, it could mean significant savings from targeting precautionary measures and avoiding unnecessary tests and treatments for those unlikely to develop conditions.
Malpractice claims against physicians and hospitals often involve negligence in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. It is conceivable that if physicians are able to treat patients in a meaningfully more effective and efficient manner, such claims arising from negligence could decrease.
Ten years after the announcement of the mapping of the human genome, actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie brought its value into sharp focus with an op-ed in The New York Times. In discovering she had the BRCA1 gene, she made a major health decision based on what being a carrier meant for her chances of breast cancer — doctors put the odds at 87 percent. Jolie went through with a double mastectomy, and other women who found they were carriers have followed suit.
This ability to use personal genetic information to determine treatment could save millions, or billions, of dollars, and who knows how many lives.
Emily K. Weber is a shareholder and Kandis N. McClure is an associate and policy adviser at the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.