How manufacturers are addressing the demand for personalised medicine

Millions of people are taking medication that does nothing to  treat their symptoms. Recent studies suggest many of the most popular drugs on the market help only a fraction of the people who use them. But this could be about to change.

Medicine is starting to get personal, and patients are increasingly demanding customised treatments with better results and fewer side effects. The trend has largely been driven by improvements in genome sequencing, which has become much cheaper and more effective.  Storing huge amounts of data on health conditions has also become easier, and the world is far better connected on mobile platforms.

Combined, these factors are changing the way healthcare is delivered. “One major area of development is in companion diagnostics, which are used to identify the patients who  will respond to a particular treatment,” said Richard Alldred, head of innovation at the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI). “A good example of the evolution of stratified therapies is in breast cancer treatment, where genetic data is being used  to identify patient groups likely to respond to particular treatment regimens.”