Precision medicine: From definition to implementation

Precision Medicine (PM) combines an array of different information, aiming to improve healthcare delivery. As PM uses individualized information from the patient, such as genomic signatures and medical history, it allows for more accurate diagnoses and treatment. It is a significant improvement over the current paradigm, in which physicians prescribe medicines designed for the average patient. However, we cannot implement PM without understanding the contribution of human genomic diversity to health and disease. Therefore, the development of PM strategies requires detailed knowledge of the genetic background of the population. Thus, large-scale genomic studies have been performed to characterize the genetic architecture of many population groups. More recently, national initiatives devoted to the implementation of PM are currently being developed in several countries. One issue which becomes critical as projects on PM are launched worldwide is the necessity of sharing genomic and health-related information. Thus, allowing for more rapid development of PM and improving our understanding of the mechanisms underlying diseases that affect individuals worldwide. Because the Brazilian population has a unique genomic structure, we created a network of scientists and clinicians devoted to a PM project, The Brazilian Initiative on Precision Medicine (BIPMed, www.bipmed.or). We believe that in addition to its local importance for the full implementation of PM in Brazil, we expect that BIPMed may pave the way to similar initiatives by other countries.