Personalized medicine, which targets individualized treatment and care based on personal and genetic variation, is creating a booming market, but it is a disruptive innovation that PricewaterhouseCoopers says will create both opportunities and challenges for traditional healthcare and emerging market participants. PricewaterhouseCoopers projects that the market for a more personalized approach to health and wellness will grow, to as much as $452 billion by 2015. Its estimates are based on a broad view of the market opportunity beyond drugs and devices to also include demand for high-tech storage and data-sharing as well as low-tech products and services aimed at consumers' heightened awareness of their own health risks.
According to the report:
• The core diagnostic and therapeutic segment of the market, comprised primarily of pharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics companies, is estimated at $24 billion and is expected to grow by 10%, reaching $42 billion by 2015.
• The personalized medical care portion of the market, including telemedicine, health information technology, and disease management services offered by traditional health and technology companies is estimated at $4 billion to $12 billion, and could grow tenfold to more than $100 billion by 2015.
• The related nutrition and wellness market, including retail, complementary, and alternative medicine offered by consumer products, food and beverage, leisure and retail companies, is estimated at $196 billion and is projected to grow 7% annually to more than $290 billion by 2015.
The promise of personalized medicine has been predicated upon advances in genomics, proteomics and metabolomics, completion of the human genome map and development of "targeted" diagnostics and therapeutics. Genomic testing enables physicians to identify an individual's susceptibility to disease, predict how a given patient will respond to a particular drug, eliminate unnecessary treatments, reduce the incidence of adverse reactions to drugs, increase the efficacy of treatments and, ultimately, improve health outcomes.
"Medical science and technological advancement have converged with the growing emphasis on health, wellness and prevention sweeping the country to push personalized medicine to a tipping point," says David M. Levy, MD, global healthcare leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers. "We are now seeing a blurring of the lines between traditional healthcare offerings and consumer-oriented wellness products and services. The market potential is enormous for any company that learns to leverage the science, target individuals and develop products and services that promote health."
Challenges for traditional healthcare
The growth of personalized medicine will change the role of traditional healthcare organizations and create new challenges. Most notably, it is one of the market forces driving the changing business model of Big Pharma away from the blockbuster drug model to a more collaborative model focused on outcomes and specialized therapies.
Primary care providers may have to build new service lines around prevention and wellness in order to replace revenues lost from traditional medical procedures. When they do, they can expect to face low-cost competition from non-healthcare companies skilled in consumer marketing and consumers armed with knowledge of their options. In addition, physicians will need training in genomics and proteomics in order to stay relevant in the area of personalized medicine. To educate the next generation of physicians and nurses in the complex issues that are raised by genomic and proteomic science, universities will have to update their programs.
"There is an urgent need to increase the value of healthcare, but we can't get there by fixing the healthcare of yesterday. We need to replace our current focus on treating disease with a better approach that is personalized, preventive, predictive and participatory, the basic tenants of personalized medicine," saya Gerald McDougall, principal in charge of personalized medicine and health sciences, PricewaterhouseCoopers. "Greater collaboration around personalized medicine should be a key strategy for health reform."
The Science of Personalized Medicine: Translating the Promise into Practice, About PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Industries Group.
Pricewaterhouse Coopers' Health Industries Group is a leading advisor to public and private organizations across the health industry, including payers, providers, academic institutions, health sciences, biotech/medical devices, pharmaceutical companies, employers and new non-traditional market participants in the healthcar
