On a planet of 7.6 billion people, it has become clear that the main threats to the human species are related to disease. Even with all the technological advances we have made in recent decades, a virus has paralyzed our daily lives and transformed our way of life. The current situation has reminded us, once again, that individual and collective health is one of the great challenges of humanity, a great desire to innovate and develop different solutions that allow us to generate real and lasting change.
Connecting knowledge about different disciplines, such as genomics, pharmacology and nutrition, with technological developments will allow hyperpersonalization of medicine, taking health to a new level that allows us to face future global threats such as a pandemic, right from the beginning to. Now, thanks to artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, we are finally finding this reality at hand.
Until recently, medicine relied on generic treatments, usually reactive, to counteract problems in our health and to improve our quality of life. However, we are on the threshold of a world of hyperpersonal medicine in which, by studying our DNA, we will be able to know the probability of suffering from specific diseases, how we will age, how our children will be, what food supplements we should to consume them and even what type of exercise or sport is best for us.
It is said that in the complete DNA of organisms, known as the genome, there is the “instruction manual for its construction and maintenance” which, if we know how to interpret it, could extend life expectancy and individual quality, improving in at the same time the welfare of the species in general. Applying it to humanity could help us reduce from the source the public health problems that have so far posed a huge challenge, such as cancer or psychiatric disorders.
What originally took more than a decade and nearly $ 300 million to decipher the entire sequence of the human genome can now take up to 48 hours for a fraction of the cost: less than $ 1,000. Little by little, we will be able to democratize the use of these new advances to transform our lives.
The scope of a hyper-personalized drug could help treat cancer even before it occurs, to find the chemical origin of mental problems in time to control them and to recommend effective exercise and diet plans for each person’s characteristics. In addition, it could help fight rare diseases, which are those with less than 200,000 people diagnosed, as 80% of them are considered to have genetic causes.
One of the applications of this new trend in medicine is pharmacogenomics, which consists in the study and application of genetic information to receive the most effective drug in the appropriate dose according to the composition of each individual, as defined by Vanessa González-Covarrubias. , leader of the pharmacogenomics laboratory of the National Institute of Genomic Medicine of Mexico (INMEGEN). This way, you could avoid prescribing medications that would not be as effective or could have significant side effects for people.
The progress made in these trends indicates the arrival of a new era characterized by precision medicine, in order to obtain better results for patients, while reducing risk situations. Can you imagine how different it would be to face a pandemic in a world where the risk factors of each individual are previously known? This could lead to strategic decision-making by governments and businesses, while streamlining healing development processes.
Similarly, the integration of genetics with medicine is expected to help reduce inequalities: achieving a universal health care system in which results do not depend on people’s purchasing power, one of the biggest challenges for developing economies such as Mexico. . However, like all technological advances, it will largely depend on how we decide to use it as a species. We have the potential to reach a utopia of health or to see it distorted into a dystopia worthy of a science fiction film.
The pandemic we are experiencing has reminded us of the importance of providing sufficient maintenance and resources to the health sector and its workers, it is time to focus our efforts to continue to innovate and develop solutions that allow us to achieve a better future for all. .
In Mexico we have made significant progress in genomic studies, it is essential to prioritize its development as a high value-added tool for the future quality of life of Mexicans.