John R. Zaleski, PhD, CPHIMS

According to Lucy Mckeon in her article “The coming medical revolution“, that’s how much medical data are produced yearly. In this article she interviewed Dr. Eric Topol, Chief Academic Officer for Scripps Health.

In this interview, Dr. Topol lists three areas in which data–big data–and the human genome are contributing to the shift toward personalized medicine. I briefly summarize these below and leave to the interested reader the link to the page above:

1) Pharmacogenomics and the ability to assess whether certain patients will respond to certain drugs based upon genotype. The statistics stand at $350B for the amount the US spends annually on prescription drugs. Many drugs do not work on certain individuals (e.g.: Plavix – 1/3 of those taking have no response; Metformin – 1/4 of diabetics unresponsive). The effects of underlying genetics could be better understood with a genotype of individuals, thereby resulting in better targeting of drugs based on individual. Genotyping is a major big data producer.

2) Cancer therapy and tumor genomics in comparison to the germline DNA of the individual. Comparative analysis can lead to better, more directed therapies. Certain cancer treatments, when directed based on the underlying genotype, can lead to better outcomes. Cancer therapy is a major big data consumer.

3) Reduction in what Topol terms the idiopathic relative to “guessing” at therapies that would / could / should be revealed by the underlying genome that would establish biological basis for disease.