Precision medicine has become more precise…and personal

By Margaret Anderson, managing director, Deloitte Consulting LLP

In October, I led a panel at the HLTH USA 2025 conference in Las Vegas that explored how precision medicine can be scaled. The panel discussed how artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies are empowering people to take a more active role in their health. It was gratifying for me to hear about scenarios where these tools are helping to improve the level of care that people receive. I also connected with industry leaders who are helping to make these innovations available to consumers across geographies.

Precision medicine has the potential to shape the Future of Health^TM by providing consumers with more precise and effective treatments. It often starts with a screening to identify risk factors so that diseases can be prevented or detected in their earliest stages and treated. However, access and costs can be an obstacle for some people, particularly those in rural areas and low-income communities, and individuals who are managing multiple chronic conditions.

Over the past decade, the definition of precision medicine in cancer care has expanded beyond genomics and targeted therapies to a more holistic approach that considers a patient’s full medical history, co-morbidities, socio-economic status, treatment preferences, and access to care. But I’m not convinced that the health care system is effectively connecting the dots. The US health care system can feel complex and highly fragmented and can be difficult to navigate. While consumers are becoming the CEOs of their own health, they need access to the appropriate tools and support to be effective. Otherwise, this CEO role could become a burden to them.

The terms personalized medicine and precision medicine are often used interchangeably. However, precision medicine is preferred to avoid the misconception that treatments are tailored to each individual.¹ Precision medicine has shown success in certain cancers, but it remains a challenge in others, such as multiple myeloma.

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Michael Andreini, president and CEO of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium. We discussed how precision medicine has changed over the years and how it might help people with multiple myeloma and other chronic illnesses. While there is no cure, multiple myeloma can often be effectively managed with targeted therapies.² Here’s an excerpt from our conversation:

Margaret: How do you think the definition of personalized medicine/precision medicine has evolved over the past 10 years, specifically for people with cancer? What do you see down the road?

Michael: Historically, when people thought of personalized medicine, they often thought of precision medicine—the concept of treating a patient with a targeted therapy specific to the genomic make-up of their cancer. The potential of precision medicine can be seen in the treatment of some cancers (e.g., HER2+ early breast cancer) but has yet to come to fruition in multiple myeloma. I think people today have a broader view of precision medicine—which focuses on providing the right treatment to the right patients at the right time—and taking into account a variety of factors beyond just the genomic make-up of their cancer. Prior treatments, co-morbidities, side-effect management, desired outcomes, socioeconomic status, and location are important factors that should be considered in the future of precision medicine.

Margaret: What are some ways that technology and medical advances are helping to prevent cancer or catch it in the earliest stages?

Michael: Technology is evolving rapidly in this space, and it is allowing providers to catch cancer earlier, which usually results in better outcomes for patients…and potentially cures. We advise patients to understand their risk [e.g., family history, lifestyle, and environmental factors]. We also encourage them to get screened early and often because it could save their life. The ability to detect disease early is an important advance, but people should also consider false-positive rates among early screening tests. Many early detection technologies are not always 100% accurate. That is an issue that I think should be addressed before widespread adoption and use can be supported.

Margaret: Artificial intelligence and other digital tools can pore over data in a way that couldn’t be accomplished before. How might digital technologies help to transform the research process and treatment modalities?

Michael: There are a number of companies building AI-driven drug-discovery platforms to support new target identification and drug-candidate selection.³ These platforms have the potential to streamline drug-discovery and development processes in a way that could lead to new and effective drugs…and get those drugs to patients more quickly and at a lower cost. One of the key benefits of AI is the infinite scalability. At some point during the workday, we all run out of time to get things done…AI never runs out of time.

Margaret: What are some things that organizations are doing to help ensure cancer treatments continue to improve?

Michael: There are several ways to help support this. They can provide early-stage biotech companies with financial support and strategic guidance to help them improve their probability of success through venture-philanthropy. They could invest in large-scale adaptive platforms for clinical trials to provide a more efficient and scalable model to evaluate new therapies. This can help generate more data around novel drug combinations and sequencing approaches. Organizations can provide targeted translational research programs to help biopharmaceutical companies understand biologic drivers of drug response and resistance mechanisms, and they can offer robust data-sharing initiatives that can help ensure the research community learns in real-time.

Margaret: What are you excited for in the next 3-5 years for the field and for patients?

Michael: For multiple myeloma, I believe that we could see cures for some patients in the next three-to-five years.

Conclusion
Technological advances and a broader definition of precison/personalized medicine appear to be reshaping the future of health—potentially making care more targeted, proactive, and tailored to each individual’s needs. As AI, data platforms, and advocacy organizations help to accelerate both research and access, there can be real momentum toward new therapies, early detection, improved patient outcomes, and possibly cures. With continued collaboration across the health ecosystem, the vision of precision medicine as the standard, not the exception, is coming into clearer focus—and can offer new hope for those facing cancer and other chronic conditions.

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Endnotes:

¹What is the difference between precision medicine and personalized medicine?, MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine
²Multiple myeloma: Diagnosis and treatment, Mayo Clinic
³How AI is transforming drug discovery, The Pharmaceutical Journal, July 3, 2024

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