Strategic next steps in molecular medicine for healthcare companies.

Healthcare markets are undergoing fundamental changes. These changes come from a variety of converging causes, particularly the rapidly increasing role of molecular medicine and diagnostics, the pressure on costs, new technologies and the evolution of patients into consumers. Traditional healthcare companies that wish to succeed in the future will have to break out of past acquisition practices and business models.

Impact of molecular medicine on healthcare markets and strategies for success.

Improvements in the understanding of the molecular basis of disease are leading to profound market changes in healthcare. The authors of this perspective offer a comprehensive view of these market shifts and their relations to one another. Within the traditional healthcare system, these changes will include better cancer therapies, companion diagnostics and diagnostics that are not linked to single therapies.

How molecular medicine transforms policy (and everything else).

Molecular medicine (also known as pharmacogenomics, pharmacogenetics, gene-based medicine, personalized medicine), after being heralded prematurely as the next revolution in medicine, is in the process now of becoming the first big change in healthcare of the 21st century. Because its scientific, clinical, ethical, financial, and regulatory implications are so far-reaching, it is important to define who and what will be affected in order to put the right societal systems and policies in place to cope with the change. Leaders of the personalized medicine field will be those organizations that see the wave and prepare to adjust their traditional planning, relationships, attitudes and management approach.