Pharmacists Will Play Key Role in Integration of Precision Medicine
A discussion with George Van Antwerp, MBA, senior vice president of Product Innovation and Strategic Planning at Prime Therapeutics.
Precision medicine is a novel treatment approach that takes into account a patient’s individual genetics, environment and lifestyle.1 The goal of precision medicine is to address unmet needs and match a patient with the right treatment at the right dosage. Newer technologies, such as pharmacogenetic testing and gene therapies, represent key opportunities to advance medicine and improve patient outcomes.
In a commentary published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, George Van Antwerp, MBA, discussed the opportunities that pharmacists have to evolve with the constantly changing health care environment.2 Van Antwerp said pharmacists will play a crucial role in precision medicine’s creation and its delivery to the patient.
In an interview with Drug Topics®, Van Antwerp, senior vice president of Product Innovation and Strategic Planning at Prime Therapeutics, discussed how the role of pharmacists will evolve with the integration of precision medicine into the health systems setting, and how pharmacists can collaborate with other healthcare providers to ensure precision medicine therapies are tailored appropriately to patients' individual needs in a cost-effective manner.
“I think this is a really exciting area,” Van Antwerp said. “If we think about the cell and gene therapy innovation that’s happening, if we think about CRISPR technology out there, if we even look a few years out, I frequently talk about things like 3D printed drugs and how that will allow us to get to precision dosing at an individual level, there’s a lot of opportunity for us to make the effectiveness of medication much higher and to make sure that we are matching a patient’s needs…”
