Personalized medicine, also known as precision medicine, is a medical model that tailors healthcare decisions, treatments, practices, or products to the individual patient. This approach relies heavily on genetic, biomarker, phenotypic, or psychosocial information. By understanding a patient's unique genetic makeup, doctors can predict susceptibility to diseases and prescribe more effective drugs with fewer side effects.
The concept has existed for centuries, but the modern era of personalized medicine was catalyzed by the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. Advances in high-throughput sequencing and data analysis have made it feasible to integrate genomic data into clinical practice.
It is transforming oncology (cancer treatment), pharmacogenomics (drug response), and rare disease diagnosis. Major healthcare systems and pharmaceutical companies are increasingly adopting precision medicine strategies, although challenges related to data privacy, cost, and equitable access remain.