Introduction to Precision Medicine
Although the first published results relating genetics to treatment outcomes was in 1902, we are still learning so much about the field of "precision medicine" that there is ongoing debate about its definition and name (e.g. personalised/stratified/P4 - Predictive, Preventive, Personalized and Participatory). The basic premise is that the relationship between how a patient responds to a treatment can be better explained by taking into account data on the patients' molecular profile, environment and lifestyle. Traditional assessment of treatments using randomized clinical trials have generally assumed that there is an average effect across all the patients allocated to that treatment in a trial, a "one size fits all" approach. Of course, we are all unique, and there is no doubt that our health is determined by genetics as well as lifestyle and environmental factors.