Driven by advances in the understanding of cell biology derived from the recent unravelling of the human genome, the healthcare sector is entering a new era of individualised (or personalised) medicine. Clinicians will be able to offer more individualised diagnosis and characterisation of cell-based diseases such as cancer, epilepsy and stroke based on their individual genetic makeup, enabling each patient to receive the most appropriate of available therapies and to aid the development of new therapies.
This strong push to individualised medicine – with its potential for earlier diagnosis of diseases such as cancer and subsequent ability to design highly-targeted, individualised treatments – will lead to better patient outcomes and a significant reduction in social and economic costs to the community.
In parallel, significant savings to governments, insurers, drug companies, health-care providers and (ultimately) patients will be delivered through productivity gains achieved from these improved health technologies. At a time when private and public health-care costs are rising rapidly, these savings are necessary for continuation of affordable, appropriate medical treatment of common and uncommon diseases.
For this new generation of individualised medicine there is a huge communication challenge – the right drugs have to be given to the right people at the right dose otherwise the very expensive treatment medicines are wasted. There is an enormous pressure to have this circuit closed in order to convince patients, clinicians and governments that these new medicines are truly valuable.
Next-generation biomedical imaging is one of the key enabling tools to closing this circuit. By combining the growing knowledge regarding the role of specific genes and proteins in human health and disease, with novel ways to target these entities in a manner that produces an externally detectable signal, it is becoming increasingly possible to visualize and quantify specific biological processes in a non-invasive manner.
Cyclotek is pleased to be in the position to facilitate clinical trials and research with novel PET tracers in Australia. We firmly believe that the advent of these new tracers, and their eventual adoption into clinical practice, will revolutionize the future of medicine.
Cyclotek has supported development and use of novel PET tracers since 2007.
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