How Personalized Medicine's Influence on Indian Healthcare?

Sometimes, you might wonder why prescribed medicines fail to cure health issues or meet the body's health requirements. Your concern is valid. This is often due to the one-size-fits-all approach of our healthcare sector, which fails to meet individual patient needs. So, how can we improve this situation? Despite the backlog in the health sector, there has been a simultaneous rise in the emerging field of personalized medicine, which offers a solution for improving the quality of medicine and treatment. Today, let's dive into how personalized medicine is making waves in Indian healthcare.

What is personalized medicine?

Personalized medicine is a booming sector in medical practice that uses the genetic profile of an individual to make a decision to prevent, diagnose, and treat a particular disease in the patient. This knowledge about genetic profiling can aid in selecting an appropriate medicine for the doctor. For instance, using target therapies for treating the specific type of cancer (HER2 positive breast cancer cell) in breast cancer patients.

Evolution Journey Of Personalized Medicine

Maybe this term is new to us, but the fact is, the term "personalized medicine" first evolved on April 16, 1999, which appeared in a short article in the Wall Street Journal named "New Era of Personalised Medicine: Targeting Drugs for each unique genetic medicine." Moreover, the complete sequencing of the human genome has further improved the evolution of personalized medicine, which has made genomics enter the spectrum of molecular medicine.

6 Benefits Of Using Personalized Medicine

Personalized medicine has a lot of advantages, which are given below:

1. Tailored Treatments: Personalized medicine can help to provide a specific treatment plan for the individuals gene formation, medical history and lifestyle. This form of patient centric approach can help to overcome the disease in an effective way.
2. Accuracy: AI can improve the accuracy of the treatment and diagnosis by analysing the exact root cause of the disease. This can improve the treatment outcome and prevent the patient from exposing unnecessary treatment and medicine.
3. Early Detection and Prevention: Personalized medicine can help in the early detection of life threatening disease from cancer to autoimmune disorders by predicting the chances of risk through genetic analysis of the individuals who have a family history of the disease. This helps to improve the survival rate and reduce complications in treating a disease.
4. Reduced Adverse Reactions: Personalised medicine can help find an appropriate treatment based on the genetics, family history, and health of the individual. These can lower the risk of side effects caused by treatment or medicine that doesn't fit one genetic makeup. Moreover, it can guide the doctor in providing a safe and secure treatment.
5. Prevent the money expenditure: Personalised medicine can help to prevent the wastage of money on unnecessary treatment, which can also lead to a loss of hope in the treatment and medicine.
6. Improvement in Healthcare and Research: Personalised medicines can help bring new advancements in the field of medicine. They can lead to a breakthrough and improve healthcare care, along with technological advancements such as telemedicine, especially for rural patients. These aid in building a more powerful healthcare sector for patients.

Thriving Blossoms: Personalized Medicine's Growth In India

India, with its huge population of 1.3 billion people, faces a significant disease burden encompassing both communicable and non-communicable diseases. This underscores the critical need for personalized medicine to analyze genetic, molecular, and protein databases in tailoring treatment plans for every individual. Here is the journey of India toward the personalized medication:

1. India, with its huge population of 1.3 billion people, faces a significant disease burden encompassing both communicable and non-communicable diseases. This underscores the critical need for personalized medicine to analyze genetic, molecular, and protein databases in tailoring treatment plans for every individual. Here is the journey of India toward the personalized medication:
2. It is estimated that the Indian genetic testing market, which is a tool in personalized medicine, has seen a large growth. It was around 4,544.5 crore ($61 million) in 2022 and is expected to grow with a CAGR of 6.94% over 2018-28 and reach 6,779.5 crore ($91 million) in 2028. This shows the growth of the Indian healthcare sector toward the new era of personalized medicine.
3. The Indian genomic variation database project was started in 2003, which was started with the aim of providing data for the most common type of genetic variation for 15,000 people from different places in India.
4. The Government of India passed a Human DNA Profiling Bill in 2005, which was later transformed into the DNA Technology Bill in 2019, an initiative to regulate DNA technology in identifying a person's identity.
5. The Genome India project in January 2020 is a great initiative which was launched with an aim to collect ten thousand genetic samples from people who are Indian citizens across the india. It will help to form a catalogue which provide an dteials about the genetic variation for the Indian population.
6. The government of India has also launched a NIDAN ( National Inherited Diseases Administration) Kendra program to prevent and manage inherent genetic disorders. It has a team of caring experts in genetics who are there to support and guide pregnant women and parents through every step of the journey. From offering counseling and testing to diagnose any inherited genetic disorders in babies, to providing ongoing care and support with a whole team of skilled clinicians.
7. The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) is a free center government scheme that helps to improve the digitization of healthcare and create digital health records of Indian citizens, which improve the research and personalized medicine to ensure that hospitals can work together smoothly at different levels.
8. The National Tuberculosis Elimination Program is a great initiative that has already implemented the benefit of personalized medicine by focusing on early diagnosis and multidrug treatment in patients.

What is the role of artificial intelligence in personalized medicine?

Precision medicine, when combined with emerging technology like artificial intelligence, can be a solution for most of the complex problems in the healthcare sector. AI has contributed the following to precision medicine, which are given below:

1. Data analysis: Picture a team of diligent researchers gathering and organizing data from patients far and wide. They carefully sift through genetic and medical information, creating a detailed map of each person's health journey. With this wealth of knowledge, they're able to offer personalized health advice tailored to fit each individual perfectly.
2. Decision making: Imagine having a wise advisor standing by your doctor's side, offering guidance and insight every step of the way. Together, they navigate the complexities of diagnosis and treatment, ensuring that every decision is made with care and consideration for the patient's well-being.
3. Identifying potential targets: Think of a skilled detective combing through clues hidden within the body's biology and genetics. With precision and accuracy, they identify the exact targets causing disease, saving precious time and resources by focusing efforts where they matter most.
4. Drug Discovery and Development: It's like having a team of dedicated scientists working tirelessly in the lab. They analyze every detail of a drug's molecular structure, effectiveness, and safety, ensuring that it's tailor-made for each person's unique genetic makeup.
5. Disease detection and diagnosis: Imagine having a reliable friend who can see into the future, predicting potential health issues before they even arise. With their help, diseases are caught early, giving patients the best chance at overcoming them and living a long, healthy life.

Wrapping it up!

Personalized medicine is like having a tailor-made solution for each person's health needs – it's all about giving patients the best possible treatment that's perfectly suited to them. And in a vibrant and diverse country like India, where every individual's genetic makeup is unique and new diseases are popping up all the time, personalized medicine becomes even more important. By embracing personalized medicine and harnessing the power of technology like AI, we can revolutionize healthcare in India. Just imagine having access to cutting-edge tools that analyze your genetic makeup and medical history, guiding doctors in crafting treatment plans that are truly personalized to you. It's not just about treating diseases – it's about preventing them, catching them early, and giving every person the best chance at a healthy life. But it doesn't stop there. With ongoing research and development, we can ensure that personalized medicine becomes accessible to everyone, regardless of background or location.