Personalized medicine: a world of opportunities in skin diseases

Abstract

Painkillers ... vaccines ... antibiotics ...: will personalized medicine unfold as the next revolutionary healthcare advance? Traditionally, physicians initiate therapy with a standard dose and observe how the patient responds. If necessary, therapy is modified by ‘trial and error.’ Why drug therapy fails in some patients or populations, and why some patients experience serious side effects, was unclear. Although it was suspected that genetics may be involved in specific medication responses, research had identified only a few genetic variations that are relevant.