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Several years ago, personalized medicine was more an emerging concept rather than a concrete part of the healthcare system. However, last year, 42 percent of newly approved drugs, agents or therapeutic biologics were classified as personalized medicines. Personalized medicine refers to therapies that are designed based on the genetic and molecular makeup of a patient. In principle, an individualized treatment should be more effective at treating a patient compared to a non-specific drug. |
| With the advancement of genetic techniques and a greater understanding of disease pathology, the cancer drug development industry, in particular, has witnessed a major shift towards targeted therapies. In the last three years alone, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved eight targeted therapies for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an often-fatal form of blood cancer. Indeed, market research firm IQVIA (formerly Quintiles and IMS Health) predicted that leukemia and lymphoma treatments would be a major focus of pharmaceutical R&D by 2020 in addition to treatments for breast, lung and colorectal cancers. |
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Targeted therapies are not necessarily limited to one indication. Some targeted therapies target specific genes or proteins which may be mutated or defective in several different types of cancer. Biotech Epizyme is expected to have their experimental small molecule inhibitor drug, tazemetostat, reviewed in late-January for the treatment of certain blood cancers and solid tumors.
In Deloitte’s report, researchers think targeted drug delivery will become a mainstay in the medical world. That is, targeted drug delivery via a ‘nanoparticle pill’ will be introduced into the healthcare and life sciences vocabulary.
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