Participatory, preventive, predictive and personalized (P4) medicine : hope or hype?

Abstract

Medicine is undergoing a major transformation, one driven by a systems-based approach to health and disease, that will remodel healthcare and usher in an era of medicine that is participatory, preventive, predictive and personalized – P4 medicine. The participatory aspect of P4 medicine will be the key factor in determining whether P4 medicine is the hope of future healthcare or just hype.

The impact of P4 medicine and its obstacles were addressed by reviewing the current status of research and commercial applications of P4 medicine. Two DNA test kits were purchased from 23andMe® (US), a direct-to-consumer DNA testing company, to give a personal evaluation of this service.

P4 medicine is not a distant goal (~10-15 years) with the rapid progress in genomic and proteomic research, and increasing availability of molecular diagnostics and direct-to-consumer DNA testing services. The participation of consumers, patients and ordinary individuals will be crucial to the realization of P4 medicine.