There is a lot of overlap between the terms “precision medicine” and “personalized medicine”. According to the National Research Council, “personalized medicine” is an old term with a similar meaning to “precision medicine.” However, there was concern that the word “customized” could be misunderstood to imply that unique treatments and preventions were being developed for each person. In precision medicine, the focus is on identifying which approaches will be effective for patients based on genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. For this reason, the council preferred the term “precision medicine” rather than “personalized medicine.” However, some people still use both terms as synonyms.

Pharmacogenomics is part of precision medicine. Pharmacogenomics is the study to identify which genes affect a person’s response to certain drugs. This relatively new field combines pharmacology (the science of drugs) and genomics (the study of genes and their functions) to develop safe and effective drugs and dosages that are tailored to each person’s genetic variations.

Come to Clinica Britannia for further information.