Personalized healthcare using your own DNA

What’s more personal than your DNA? Researchers are looking into developing personalized medical solutions based on just that.

With a quick scan of your DNA, physicians are able to personalize your own healthcare down to the last genome of your genetic makeup. This technology first began development in 2015 after President Barack Obama launched the Precision Medicine Initiative and has gained draft guidance support from the FDA recently.

With just a small sample of your saliva or blood, this technology is able to analyzing your genetic makeup to determine whether you have or are at risk of disease.

"There's germline mutations which are genes that you pass on to your children, and there are somatic mutations which is already you, but there are changes within your DNA, so really what we focus on more is the germline, how can these changes in your DNA that you inherited increase or change your risk of developing cancer," said Robb Rowley, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Provenance Health Care. "Anyone that has cancer now, we say all cancer is genetic, but not all cancer risk was related to genetics, meaning you might not have that genetic risk to developing cancer, but once those somatic cells or those cells within you actually change that, we know that results in the induction of cancer."

Physicians will be able to customize each patient’s healthcare depending on DNA. Medical decisions will be tailored to each person and prescription dosages can be customized for each individual. Physicians will also be able to pinpoint specific diseases and specific treatments.

"If you catch those people early and you find those genetics, you follow their labs and based on that, you prevent them from developing all those conditions," Rowley said.