From patient-centricity to personalization a paradigm shift

New drug development has become a hub for pharma giants to explore various ways in which New Chemical Entities (NCE) can be developed which turns out to be most effective and safe for the public. In this context, Patient-centricity serves the most crucial part. The basic concept of patient-centricity comes from the clinical trials being done over the patients, asking the patients in each and every stage of the clinical trial about the effect and any other side effects if any, so as to improve the properties of the Investigational New Drug (IND) and make a more personalized approach of treatment.Variable responses to drug therapy due to the standard therapy protocol of ‘one-size-fits-all’ has led to severe increase in adverse reaction events. This can be reduced by involving the patients during clinical trials, by communicating with them at each and every stage of the process and asking about the outcomes they look for and the possible side effects which bother them the most. Upsurge of the therapy can be achieved by focusing on the differences due to drug which may vary from person to person. To accomplish this, individual drug responses are checked in a geographically and ethnically distinct population. Pharmacogenomics, thus playing a major role in development of personalized therapy1. However, not only genetic biomarkers (pharmacogenetics), but also non-genetic biomarkers involving proteomics and metabolomics play a major role in personalization. This review discusses about this paradigm shift from patient-centricity to personalization and various developments and future prospects in personalized medicine.