Precision Medicine
Precision medicine is an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person. This approach will allow doctors and researchers to predict more accurately which treatment and prevention strategies for a particular disease will work in which groups of people. It is in contrast to a one-size-fits-all approach, in which disease treatment and prevention strategies are developed for the average person, with less consideration for the differences between individuals. Although the term is relatively new, the concept has been a part of healthcare for many years. For example, a person who needs a blood transfusion is not given blood from a randomly selected donor; instead, the donor’s blood type is matched to the recipient to reduce the risk of complications. Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as activation immunotherapies,
while immunotherapies that reduce or suppress are classified as suppression immunotherapies. Several immunotherapy drugs have been approved to fight cancer, and hundreds more are being tested in clinical trials. Cancer immunotherapy, also known as immuno-oncology, is a form of cancer treatment that uses the power of immune system to prevent, target, control, and eliminate cancer. Some immunotherapy treatments use genetic engineering to enhance immune cells’ cancerfighting capabilities and may be referred to as gene therapies. Many immunotherapy treatments for preventing, managing, or treating different cancers can also be used in combination with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, or targeted therapies to improve their effectiveness. Microbiome
The human microbiome is composed of communities of bacteria (and viruses and fungi) that have a greater complexity than the human genome itself. The human microbiome has an estimated 100 trillion microbes, the bulk of which live in gut. An understanding of this complex ecological community is important as it affects patients, and
manipulation of the gut microbiome has the potential to be used in the treatment of childhood diseases in the future. The human microbiome has extensive functions such as development of immunity, defense against pathogens, host nutrition including production of short-chain fatty acids important in host energy metabolism, synthesis of vitamins and fat storage as well as an influence on human behavior, making it an essential organ of the body without which would not function correctly. The main theme of all emerging trends for 2019 is the continuing need for greater cross-industry collaboration to realize the potential in these areas. Heightened global competition, tougher regulatory standards, and continued cost pressures make efficient innovation in R&D more imperative than ever. Cross-stakeholder collaboration, new digital technologies and therapeutic approaches, and the role of cloudbased computing, among others, are having a dramatic impact on drug and device development. This will continue to expand in 2019 and beyond, enabling more novel therapies to reach the market with the advancement of more permanent efficacy for patients.
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