Scientists gather to chart out a 'total reboot' for medicine – Science and Medicine Coming Together

In the discussions, both Plavix and Erbitux are mentioned as both drugs do not work on 30-40% of patients and the answer eventually will lie in genomics research to find out why. If this is known up front, it would save that population the risk of taking a drug that is not going to work for them. Thus far the FDA will not give approval for a drug to be used based on an individual’s genomes. This group is hoping to change some of this and work to create solutions for personalized medicine.

Right now the FDA wants additional studies, which can take time and may be too late for treating some patients. A couple other big issues are educating physicians and then the matter of who, insurance companies and Medicare, will pay for the testing. The report states that only 10,000 physicians out of 800,000 are familiar with genetic testing and the information flowing from genomics is huge, every day there’s a new protein or activity of a gene found, so it is a log to keep current with and be focused at the same time. BD

Seemingly every day scientists find new genetic links to disease. Yesterday, it was a gene linked to Lou Gehrig's disease, an ultimately deadly neurodegenerative disorder.

But what do we do with all this information other than use it to help predict disease? The goal is to postpone the onset of disease, hopefully long enough that more specific therapies can be developed, he said.

Scientists from around the country are meeting in Torrey Pines this weekend to discuss how genetic testing can be used to fuel a sea change in health care.

“Because of genomics, all of medicine is set for a total reboot,” said Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist and geneticist at Scripps Health and the Scripps Research Institute, which are sponsoring the gathering.

Scientists gather to chart 'total reboot' for medicine

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