President Obama Announces New "Precision Medicine Initiative"

Last week in his his State of the Union address, President Obama announced a new “Precision Medicine Initiative” that involves tailoring medical treatments to the genetic profiles and other characteristics of individual patients. This initiative is an alternative to the traditional treatment approach, in which physicians typically apply the same treatment protocol to all patients presenting with a certain condition. Through precision medicine (aka “personalized medicine”), health care providers can employ genetic testing to test for biomarkers that will make individuals responsive to certain therapies in order to ensure that money is not wasted on individuals who will not respond or who will have adverse effects. The New England Journal of Medicine published a study that shows the application of personalized medicine in patients with melanoma. Last Friday, Medicare released a plan to cover genetic testing in certain patients with advanced lung cancer so that they may benefit from targeted therapies, according to the New York Times. This new initiative is revolutionary because it proves that policy makers now believe these genetic tests are worth the cost.