In the early days of medicine, diagnosis was based only on what sight, sound and sensation could detect upon examination of a patient. Only in the last 100 years have imaging technologies allowed us to look inside the human body. And only in the last 50 years have laboratory methods allowed us to analyze markers and manifestations of disease in fluid and cell samples. Now, the growing understanding of genes and the proteins they control is helping to enhance our predictive ability, allowing us to look not only on the family tree, but also inside the DNA of each unique human being.

We are striding into the molecular age briskly now, but the ground itself is also moving. Medical diagnostics no longer focus only on the current state of disease. New products are designed to let us know in advance whether an individual’s treatment options are likely to be effective — diagnostics that make possible the rational use of genome-based targeted therapeutics.

Predictive genetics is a trickier business. It has the potential to reduce morbidity and mortality by enabling more targeted screening, surveillance and prevention measures. But many people with the high-risk form of a gene will not get the disease, while many more are at risk without having a genetic predisposition. A strictly genetic approach to disease prevention would weight more heavily in favor of testing and targeting pharmaceuticals prior to a disease state, but multiple environmental factors such as smoking, diet, exercise and poverty are potentially modifiable with greater health impact and at less cost. The more we understand the possibilities and pitfalls raised by genetic tests, the better we can embrace their responsible use and avoid overprescription.

It has been my privilege over the last couple of years to be able to serve as a window to the latest in product and technology developments in the IVD marketplace, framed within a business, administrative and public health context. Thank you for your interest and feedback. AACC will be the last trade show I attend for CLP, but as life will have it, I hope to see many of you again looking into the future.

d_Blaine_sig.gif (2797 bytes)
Ellen Blaine
Editor