What is the role of personalized medicine in the future of the medical industry?

Posted by Susan Hill on July 22nd, 2019

Personalized medicine promises a paradigm shift in diagnosis and care delivery as the treatment is based on data leveraged from a holistic view of an individual patient. Proliferation of sequencing methodologies, especially Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), due to rising cost of sequencing and development of Human Genome Project in genomics field is expected to drive the industry.

NGS technology delivers the data related to the genetic makeup of the patient and response of drugs on patient, thereby fostering the development of precision medicine to treat diseases. Moreover, NGS combined with Companion Diagnostics (CDx) is expected to play a major role for advancement of personalized diagnostics and therapeutics over the forthcoming years. Advent of novel CDx and biomarkers for non-oncology therapeutic applications have forced companies to improve their precision medicine portfolio; focusing oninfectious diseases and Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs).

Companies are undertaking several initiatives for sustaining market competition. For instance, in March 2018, DSM partnered with Mixfit to provide personalized nutrition solutions by combining Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology.

This generates a strong impetus for scaling up the CDx tests to form PM for non-oncology cases. Increasing prevalence of cancer, which boosts demand for personalized cancer diagnostics and therapeutics, is also one of the key factors responsible for the growth of the market. As per data GLOBOCAN 2018, the global burden of cancer has increased to 18.1 million new cases in 2018. Growing cancer-related spending is also amongst the drivers for growth.

Key companies in the personalized medicine market are involved in several investment programs pertaining to the precision medicine. This has resulted in an increased commitment of leading pharma competitors toward this sector. Furthermore, companies providing molecular decision support system are combining genomic data with clinical data to minimize the gaps in precision medicine practice.

Gene therapies are widely utilized to diagnose both chronic and genetic disorders according to individual’s genetic makeup. Growing adoption of gene sequencing and data analytics technologies is anticipated to escalate precision medicine market growth. Decreasing cost of whole genome sequencing, advancement in cell biology sector, and the development of “Human Genome Project” are several other factors influencing the demand for gene therapy hence, boosting the overall market. Moreover, key leaders are undergoing numerous strategic developments to launch novel personalized products, which will also contribute to the market expansion.

For instance, in September 2018, Vertex Pharmaceuticals collaborated with Genomics for the delivery of precision medicine based on individual’s genetic differences and lifestyle. Similarly, in January 2018, Foundation Medicine collaborated with European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) to facilitate Foundation’s comprehensive genomic profiling to across personalized medicine and clinical trial enrolment.

Growing number of approved companion diagnostics and biomarker products have been proved promising avenues for the development of advanced precision diagnostic tests. Several personalized diagnostics and therapeutic products based on companion diagnostics are under clinical trials and development pipelines, which also add an incremental opportunity to accelerate this industry.