There are a growing number of businesses emerging in the field of genomics that are taking steps towards making personalized medicine a reality. While this is exciting in the respect that it will offer improved patient evaluations and care in the future; there are a few companies that may in actuality be hindering rather than facilitating the progress towards this ultimate goal.

The field of genomics, when compared to the discipline of biology, is merely an infant. What then does this say about the area of personalized medicine? There is great discrepancy in the scientific world as to whether or not personalized medicine is here and now, or still around the corner. While there are those companies selling the service of sequencing individual genomes for a rather large sum, it is difficult to say whether or not this qualifies as personalized medicine. On one hand, the process of genotyping is being offered as a service on an individual by individual basis. On the other, the same companies offer little information as to the applications of this process, other than for purposes of maternal and paternal lineage. As for any serious medical applications, the companies offer nothing in the area of diagnostics.

It seems then; that although there are companies out there giving the illusion that personalized medicine is here and now, the reality of it is that it probably around the corner. Having the SNP technology used to provide this service is beneficial in that it opens the door to greater possibilities for the future. However, it is only half the battle in developing a comprehensive personalized medical program. It does not address the correlation to the clinical effectiveness or meaning of the test results. By not addressing the other half, companies such as this are in actuality hindering the transition into personalized medicine by in essence selling “snake oils” and threatening the adoption of true personalized tests which are already in the market. There is much more progress to be made in the area of personalized medicine, progress that is being made by other companies in this field.

Companies such as, Empire Genomics , Genoptix , Genomic Health and Agendia, have been making strides to facilitate a more responsible development of the personalized medicine market. Having capitalized in advances made in genomic technologies, combining this with strong clinical supporting justifications, they have quickly become leaders in the industry. The difference between these firms and the likes of 23andME and Navigenics etc… is that they demonstrate clinical utility, testing specificity and sensitivity of their tests. This enables clinicians and patients to make better decisions, since they will have a clear understanding of repercussions and confidence in the results/data from which these decisions are made.

Before the fine-tuning of the “standard of care” in medicine can take place and we can genuinely say that personalized medicine is a reality, it is necessary that molecular medicine, medical informatics and patient empowerment converge. In order for this to happen, more research needs to be done to identify the genetic aberrations that are true indicators of risk. In addition, health care professionals, as well as the general public, need to be better educated on the relation between genetic variations and disease.