BioPharm International-12-01-2007

BioPharm International

Personalized Medicine May Rationalize the Coverage of Specialty Therapies

December 01, 2007

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The personalized medicine bandwagon is on a roll, offering a new model for calculating reimbursement of high-cost biotech therapies. Strategies for identifying patients who will respond to a certain therapy, as well as those most likely to suffer adverse events, promise to improve healthcare quality while eliminating waste and inappropriate spending. Interventions based on individual genetic characteristics may have limited sales, but support higher prices and less costly clinical research methods.