At this time of year many people feel the need to either look back on the year and take stock of their accomplishments, mistakes, etc. or look ahead to what the new year will bring and how they will accomplish their goals.
I’ve never been particularly good at long-term planning (or any planning for that matter) or making and keeping resolutions, so looking forward is out.
Looking back, and in particular, looking at what I have written about in this space over the last year, shows some hits, misses, and some cringy stuff. But, hey, even Babe Ruth struck out – so I’m in good company. No?
In these columns I have (mostly) tried to put a personal touch on healthcare; relating my experiences, observations, etc. Many times, we only see the science, or the technology, behind pharmaceuticals. Of course, there are people at the end of the supply chain and this is where medicine gets personal.
So, let’s talk for a minute about personalized medicine.
The term ”personalized medicine” has been bandied about over the last few years as the next frontier for healthcare. And, indeed, strides are being made to make drugs more “specific,” to treat each patient as an individual and less like being part of a larger population.
It certainly is a noble effort, and one which will ultimately reap rewards. But, and this is where I get all philosophical, hasn’t healthcare always been primarily “personal.”
Whether its treatment for a short-lived infection, or a chronic illness, the conversations you have with you doctor are personal, the method of treatment – while similar to others – is tailored, altered, or tweaked to fit you and the progression of your illness or recovery.
In my view, personalized medicine has been around for a long time. The advent of individualized medicine will certainly increase the effectiveness of all treatments.
On a completely different, and unrelated topic – I’ve been watching reruns of the television program Contraband: Seized at the Border on the Discovery Channel. The show primarily follows the daily efforts of Customs and Border Patrol officers stationed at ports of entry between Mexico and the U.S.
Most of their efforts are centered around finding and identifying illegal drugs as they are being smuggled into the country.
The interesting part, at least to me, is the use of equipment and technologies developed for the pharmaceutical industry and put into use at the border.
Portable Raman spectroscopy instruments, stainless steel scales, lab fume hoods, and all manner of PPD equipment are routinely used to test and identify illegal narcotics.
That’s it for this year. As always if you have any comments, criticisms of witticisms please write.
Mike Auerbach
Pharma Group Editor-in-Chief
mauerbach@comparenetworks.com
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