It’s great to see this in the New England Journal of Medicine… It’s just the citation… But, the article is worth purchasing if you teach Tai Chi or work with people with Parkinson’s Disease

The New England Journal of Medicine came out with an article today written by Rea Mirnezami, M.R.C.S., Jeremy Nicolson, Ph.D., and Ara Darzi, M.D. The article is centered around biotech advances that are going to eventually allow us to more accurately diagnose and treat illness by profiling molecular data.

The problem is, they are going to start generating this pathological data as rapidly as treatment of the illness changes. And, don’t forget about the major corporations who want to limit and, or wet their beaks in the mountains of money that can be made for this. The article says it best…

“Ultimately, we must get the balance right: regulatory frameworks must berobust enough to safeguard patients’ interests and well-being, while not stifling progress in critical early phases of the precision-medicine endeavor.

I have always been intrigued by the advancements of modern medicine. Genetic testing and profiling is the future. Being able to predict the onsets of many diseases someone may have lurking beneath the surface would be astonishing to know before it is a problem.”

Imagine being able to know about a ticking time-bomb that may drastically change your quality of life a few years from now. Imagine knowing what you are up against. Imagine that you find out what it will take to arm yourself and defeat your foe years before the pathology gains the upper hand.

Some may say that we shouldn’t play god like that. But…

Ultimately, precision medicine should ensure that patients get the right treatment at the right dose at the right time, with minimum ill consequences and maximum efficacy.

That seems like something worth funding…

image via deathtiny42