First few Article Sentences
Personalized medicine is an emerging practice of medicine that uses an individual's genetic profile to guide decisions made in regard to the prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, with medical decisions, practices, and/or products being tailored to the individual patient. Personalized Medicine can be simplistically defined as patient centered medicine as opposed to disease or disease site centered medicine.
Personalized Medicine programs are based on a deeper understanding of the patient’s unique biological profile and history. The associated concepts and methodologies have been evolving since the late 1990s and it can be said that we are now at a tipping point. Advances in science and technology have made genetic testing a realistic and more affordable option to guide treatment, particularly in oncology. The late Steve Jobs was one of the first 20 people to have his full genome sequenced (as well as the DNA of his tumor) for more than $100,000 in 2011. Today, similar tests are widely available for $3,000 to $6,000.