At the Intersection of Health, Health Care and Policy Cite this article as: Pricivel M. Carrera Personalized Medicine: Worth Its Cost? Health Affairs, 34, no.1 (2015):188 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2014.1376
The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is available at: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/34/1/188.3.full.html
For Reprints, Links & Permissions: http://healthaffairs.org/1340_reprints.php E-mail Alerts : http://content.healthaffairs.org/subscriptions/etoc.dtl To Subscribe: http://content.healthaffairs.org/subscriptions/online.shtml
Health Affairs is published monthly by Project HOPE at 7500 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814-6133. Copyright © 2015 by Project HOPE - The People-to-People Health Foundation. As provided by United States copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code), no part of Health Affairs may be reproduced, displayed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or by information storage or retrieval systems, without prior written permission from the Publisher. All rights reserved.
Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution Downloaded from content.healthaffairs.org by Health Affairs on March 20, 2015 at SUNY HEALTH SCI CTR BROOKLYN
Letters There is a limit of 300 words for letters to the editor. Health Affairs reserves the right to edit all letters for clarity, length, and tone. Letters can be submitted by e-mail, [email protected], or the Health Affairs website, http:// www.healthaffairs.org.
doi:
10.1377/hlthaff.2014.1376
Personalized Medicine: Worth Its Cost? Already stretched health care systems face a panoply of challenges, including a high and increasing number of patients with chronic conditions, expensive and rising costs of treatment, and stagnant economies. Not surprisingly, even as specialty pharmaceuticals—or, more broadly, personalized medicine—are touted as the future of medical care because they make more treatments more effective, there are reservations about the value that they offer society as a whole, compared to certain population groups. The findings of Bradford Hirsch and coauthors (Oct 2014) certainly help justify the efficiency and equity concerns of payers and health authorities about the impact of specialty pharmaceuticals. To be sure, we know little about the intended and unintended health, economic, and social impacts of personalized medicine. Advocates claim that
188
Health Affairs
personalized medicine provides value for money, as illustrated by the French case of universal molecular testing and targeted treatment of lung cancer patients with epidermal growth factor receptor mutation.1 The sustainability of these benefits, unfortunately, is far from established. Personalized medicine is still both hype and hope. Arguably, the challenge is to produce a preponderance of clear and convincing evidence that specialty pharmaceuticals and personalized medicine are worth their cost.2 Pricivel M. Carrera University of Twente TWENTE , THE NETHERLANDS NOTES 1 Nowak F, Soria JC, Calvo F. Tumour molecular profiling for deciding therapy—the French initiative. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2012;9(8):479–86. 2 European Commission. Horizon 2020: work programme 2014–2015: 8. health, demographic change and wellbeing, revised [Internet]. Brussels: European Commission; [cited 2014 Nov 20]. Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/research/ participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2014_2015/ main/h2020-wp1415-health_en.pdf
J a n u a ry 201 5
34:1
Downloaded from content.healthaffairs.org by Health Affairs on March 20, 2015 at SUNY HEALTH SCI CTR BROOKLYN
The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is available at: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/34/1/188.3.full.html
For Reprints, Links & Permissions: http://healthaffairs.org/1340_reprints.php E-mail Alerts : http://content.healthaffairs.org/subscriptions/etoc.dtl To Subscribe: http://content.healthaffairs.org/subscriptions/online.shtml
Health Affairs is published monthly by Project HOPE at 7500 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814-6133. Copyright © 2015 by Project HOPE - The People-to-People Health Foundation. As provided by United States copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code), no part of Health Affairs may be reproduced, displayed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or by information storage or retrieval systems, without prior written permission from the Publisher. All rights reserved.
Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution Downloaded from content.healthaffairs.org by Health Affairs on March 20, 2015 at SUNY HEALTH SCI CTR BROOKLYN
Letters There is a limit of 300 words for letters to the editor. Health Affairs reserves the right to edit all letters for clarity, length, and tone. Letters can be submitted by e-mail, [email protected], or the Health Affairs website, http:// www.healthaffairs.org.
doi:
10.1377/hlthaff.2014.1376
Personalized Medicine: Worth Its Cost? Already stretched health care systems face a panoply of challenges, including a high and increasing number of patients with chronic conditions, expensive and rising costs of treatment, and stagnant economies. Not surprisingly, even as specialty pharmaceuticals—or, more broadly, personalized medicine—are touted as the future of medical care because they make more treatments more effective, there are reservations about the value that they offer society as a whole, compared to certain population groups. The findings of Bradford Hirsch and coauthors (Oct 2014) certainly help justify the efficiency and equity concerns of payers and health authorities about the impact of specialty pharmaceuticals. To be sure, we know little about the intended and unintended health, economic, and social impacts of personalized medicine. Advocates claim that
188
Health Affairs
personalized medicine provides value for money, as illustrated by the French case of universal molecular testing and targeted treatment of lung cancer patients with epidermal growth factor receptor mutation.1 The sustainability of these benefits, unfortunately, is far from established. Personalized medicine is still both hype and hope. Arguably, the challenge is to produce a preponderance of clear and convincing evidence that specialty pharmaceuticals and personalized medicine are worth their cost.2 Pricivel M. Carrera University of Twente TWENTE , THE NETHERLANDS NOTES 1 Nowak F, Soria JC, Calvo F. Tumour molecular profiling for deciding therapy—the French initiative. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2012;9(8):479–86. 2 European Commission. Horizon 2020: work programme 2014–2015: 8. health, demographic change and wellbeing, revised [Internet]. Brussels: European Commission; [cited 2014 Nov 20]. Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/research/ participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2014_2015/ main/h2020-wp1415-health_en.pdf
J a n u a ry 201 5
34:1
Downloaded from content.healthaffairs.org by Health Affairs on March 20, 2015 at SUNY HEALTH SCI CTR BROOKLYN
