Back in January this year, President Obama announced his administration's Precision Medicine Initiative. In his speech he said, it is "a bold new research effort to revolutionize how we improve health and treat disease." ... it is one of the greatest opportunities for new medical breakthroughs that we have ever seen," It promises to deliver "the right treatments, at the right time, every time to the right person."
Many Americans were reluctant, obviously remembering President Nixon's claim of a medical revolution in 1971: the War on Cancer. In Nixon's speech during the signing of the National Cancer Act, , "I hope that in the years ahead, that we may look back on this day and this action as being the most significant action taken during this administration".
However, 40 years later, cancer is still the leading cause of death in America next to heart disease. The war against cancer continues.
What is behind Precision Medicine initiative to be allocated billions and billions of funds by the Obama administration? What power does it have to destroy cancer? What is precision medicine?
According to reports from Inside Big Data, we live in a time where consolidated information is the lifeline of our communication and commerce. To facilitate ease in analysis and processing of data, a tool called the spreadsheet was developed. However spreadsheets are limited in the way that trails are difficult to follow. Other relevant information have no visibility since spreadsheets have a limited display. They also are unable to connect information into a single data.
However through data visualization information cohesion becomes possible. Even related information within main information now also become available.
Medical and healthcare practitioners are believed to be the professional groups who will benefit the most from this advancement. Through data visualization not only will medical professionals be able to analyse data on hand but they will also be able to trace connections among data. This type of data visualization will play a big role in the development of precision medicine or otherwise known as personalized medicine where medical decisions, practices, treatment and medications are tailored to fit each individual patient.
Patients with cancer and other complicated disease will tremendously benefit from this medical advancement. In the article entitled Personalized Medicine: Redefining Cancer and Its Treatment, an excerpt from American Cancer Society's Cutting-Edge Cancer Science series states,
"The type of cancer a person has - and how it gets treated - is no longer just about where in the body the cancer started, such as in the breast or lungs or the colon. More so now than ever, when doctors decide how to attack a cancer, they are arming themselves with a wealth of knowledge about the specific molecular and genetic makeup of their patient's tumor."
Dr.William Phelps, Ph.D., the director of preclinical and translational cancer research at the American Cancer Society, further explains,
"The idea of analyzing an individual patient's tumor to determine what combination of drugs will work best is what personalized cancer care is all about. With this level of specificity also comes greater potential to decrease toxic side effects. "The overall toxicity to patients should be reduced because you are more likely to use the best collection of drugs the first time around."
