The Public Needs to Know

The Public Needs to Know

Introduction

Personalized medicine uses molecular analysis to obtain maximum medical benefits in the treatment and management of patient's known diseases. It can also be used to predict the predisposition for inherited deceases such as cancer. Personalized medicine's goal is to begin a whole new level and standard for healthcare, ans it is designed to fit into each person's unique medical profile including their genetic, genomic, and environmental disposition and or variables (Vogelstein & Kinzler, 2004). Due to the fact that specifics are sometimes different from person to person, the type of the diseases, to include the start, the duration, and how the decease may respond to the forms of treatment available or other clinical solutions is totally individual to the person who has the disease.

Major Issues

One key tenant of the Human Genome Project was stated as; to learn the sequences of the 3 billion units of DNA that makes up a human genome, to include the identification of all of the genes located within the enormous amounts of information obtained. Sometime in 2003, almost all of the pairs of chemical compounds that the units are comprised of had been put in their exact sequence (Hanahan & Weinberg, 2000). The genes in the DNA including the individual elements that control the genes are currently being studied, identified and cataloged.

Economic Situation

Due to the fact that cancer is fast becoming a “common killer” amongst the population of the world, no matter the age, new drugs are being constantly developed for the treatment of cancer (CDC, 2011). These drugs aim to increase the life span of the patients and to further ease the pain or symptoms of the illness. It has been predicted that in the next decade or so, cancer will become the leading cause of death instead of heart diseases. Due to almost two hundred types of cancers, one out of every three Americans are effected, and one out of four die every day (Arnst, 2009). Treatment of cancer is a very costly process; in fact, it can be called the most expensive medical treatment in the USA. Every year, almost 125 billion dollars are spent on the treatment which is paid by Medicare as well as individuals (CDC, 2011). The American National Institute of Health highlights that in the next ten years the treatment amounts could potentially rise up to 207 ...