| In April 2010, an important number of the world's top | | | | reactions in children. |
| experts in pediatric pharmacogenomics and | | | | -Identifying a non-invasive marker for inflammation |
| personalized medicine came together at a unique | | | | concerning asthma, allowing doctors to predict |
| conference to change the way childhood diseases | | | | correctly if the patients will respond to steroid |
| are treated. The conference was hosted by the | | | | treatment, and if not, guide them in the direction of |
| Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, and its goal is to | | | | better therapies. |
| apply genomic tools to medical problems so as to | | | | -Utilizing genetic biomarkers to forecast which |
| tailor treatments to the distinctive structure of | | | | newborns are in danger of developing |
| children patients in order to improve results. | | | | hyperbilirubinemia, which is the most common reason |
| The conference's organizer, Stephen Spielberg, MD, | | | | why newborns are hospitalized back; up to 85% of |
| PhD, Director of the Children's Mercy Center for | | | | readmissions during the first two weeks of life are |
| Personalized Medicine and Therapeutic Innovation; | | | | due to this condition. |
| Marion Merrell Dow Chair in Pediatric | | | | The occasion also prompted exchanges that help |
| Pharmacogenomics; and Professor of Pediatrics, | | | | address crucial concerns created by personalized |
| University of Missouri- Kansas City School of Medicine, | | | | medicine, for example: |
| stated that personalized medicine utilizes the latest | | | | -Genetic discrimination |
| developments in genomics and molecular data so that | | | | -Cost-benefit analysis |
| they can give the correct medication to the correct | | | | -Universal standards for managing genomic |
| patient, in the correct dosage, and at the correct | | | | information in electronic medical records |
| time. | | | | -Biobanking |
| He added that right now, a lot of medications work | | | | -Strategies to educate practitioners and patients |
| just for about 50% of the patients who take them, | | | | Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics is a national |
| thus, personalized medicine shows high potential to | | | | leader in pediatric personalized medicine, and they are |
| transform the way in which they treat diseases. | | | | about to launch two new programs to increase |
| During the conference, different experts from | | | | medication safety: |
| academia, government, and the private sector in the | | | | -The outpatient Personalized Medicine and |
| US, Canada, and Japan shared their knowledge of | | | | Therapeutic Innovation Clinic |
| clinical applications, bioethics, and the development of | | | | -An inpatient adverse drug reaction program |
| pediatric personalized medicine programs. | | | | Both programs will deliver first-class drug therapies, |
| Some of the clinical applications that were discussed | | | | encouraging the use of discoveries to impact |
| are from the research programs being run at the | | | | treatment decisions. The clinics will be open to |
| Children's Mercy, which tackle significant patient | | | | referrals of patients that show diagnostic and |
| challenges like: | | | | therapeutic challenges and are not responding to a |
| -Applying genomic strategies to improve the safety | | | | therapy in progress or have had a sudden, |
| and efficiency of medications employed to treat | | | | unfavorable reaction to a certain medication. |
| cancer in children. | | | | The personalized medicine clinic will offer better |
| -Improving the effectiveness and benefit/risk | | | | therapies for children by using various approaches, |
| percentage of a common therapeutic agent in | | | | which include genomic technologies and the |
| treating Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, where | | | | cooperation between clinical pharmacologists and |
| inter-patient inconsistency causes 40% of the | | | | pediatric subspecialists. |
| patients to fail to see results. | | | | Contact your life sciences consulting firm for more |
| -Revealing genetic and developmental factors that | | | | information about the future of personalized medicine. |
| contribute to the risk of serious adverse drug | | | | |