Individualised medicine - potentials and need for action

Individualised medicine aims to classify seemingly homogenous patient groups into smaller clinically relevant subgroups (stratification) in order to be able to treat them differently, thus contributing to the improvement of health care services, to the prevention of inappropriate treatments and to the reduction of adverse effects. This article summarises a report to the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag and points out the need for action for transferring individualised medicine from research to clinical application: significant incentives are required in order to prove the clinical validity of newly identified biomarkers of complex diseases. Sustainable business models for the joint development of new applications by research institutions, biotechnology companies, pharmaceuticals and medical devices companies are required. Instruments for transferring knowledge from bench to bedside (translational research) and the existing regulatory framework should be further developed in order to strike an appropriate balance between incentives for accelerating the transfer of innovative technology to the health care sector while, at the same time, ensuring patient safety, high quality and clinical utility.