Trends in Modern Medicine and Drug Therapy
By Anonymous | October 11, 2021
The prescription drug industry has been a constant headline in the news over the past decade for a variety of reasons. Opioid addiction is probably the most prominent drawing attention to the negative aspects of prescription drug abuse. One of the current headlines and topics in congress is prescription drug costs which is a large issue for certain demographics who are unable to access drugs essential to their well being. Overshadowed are discussions of the benefits of drug therapy and the opportunities for advancement in the medical field through research and a combination of modernized and alternative methodologies.
Three interesting methodologies and fields of research that overlap with drug therapy are personalized medicine, patient engagement, and synergies between modern and traditional medicine. Interestingly, data collection, data analytics, and data science are important components of each. Below is a quick synopsis of these topics including some of the opportunities and challenges with the integration of data in the research. I include a number of research papers I reviewed at the end.
Patient engagement defined broadly is the practice of the patient being involved in decision making throughout their treatment. A key component of patient engagement is education in various aspects of one’s own personal health and the treatment options available. A key benefit is collection of better treatment intervention and outcome data.
One of the primary aspects of decision making in pursuing a treatment option is that the benefits outweigh the risks (fda). Patients which take an active role in their treatment and are more aware of the associated risks are naturally better able to minimize the negative effects. One common example of a risk is weight gain. Another benefit of patient engagement is better decision making with respect to lifestyle changes such as having children.
Patient engagement also creates the opportunity to gather better data through technological advances in smartphone devices and apps which allow patients to enter data or collect data through automatic sensors. Social media data is actually a common data source and it is tough to argue that the patient provided data is not a better alternative.
Traditional Medicine, also known as alternative medicine, are those which have been practiced by indigenous cultures and rely on natural products and therapies to provide health care treatment. Two examples include Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda of India. For the purposes of this discussion, I would broaden the field to the evolving use of natural products such as CBD’s and medicinal marijuana.
While the efficacy of alternative medicine is debated, it can probably be agreed that components of traditional medicine can provide practical medical benefits to modern health care. One of the main constraints of identifying these components is the access to data. In the case of Ayurveda, one researcher has proposed a data gathering framework combining a digital web portal, operational training of practitioners, and leveraging India’s vast infrastructure of medical organizations to gather and synthesize data (P. S. R. K. Haranath). As the developed world becomes more comfortable with alternative medicine, these types of data collection frameworks will be critical to formalizing treatments.
Personalized Medicine is the concept of medicine which can be tailored to the individual rather than a one-size fits all approach (Bayer). The complex scientific framework relies on biomarkers, biogenetics, and patient stratification to develop targeted treatment for individual patients.
Data analytics and data professionals will play a vital role in the R & D of personalized medicine and the pharmaceutical industry in general. Operationalized data is a key component to the research methodologies. Many obstacles exist with clinical data including the variety of data sources, types, and terminology, siloed data across the industry, and data privacy and security. Frameworks are being developed to lead to more data uniformity and promising efforts are being made to share data across organizations. With operationalized data, advanced predictive and prescriptive analytics can be conducted to develop customized treatments and decision support (Peter Tormay). Although complex, hopefully continued progress in research and application of data analytics will lead to incremental innovations for medical treatment.
The broader purpose of the discussion is to bring awareness and advocacy for these fields of research as healthcare data is a sensitive topic for patients. The opportunities with respect to data are also highlighted to help build confidence in the prospect of jobs in the fields of data engineering, data analytics, and data science in medicine. Hopefully, the long term results of this medical research will be to provide patients with more and better treatment options, increase treatment effectiveness and long term sustainability, and lower costs and increase availability.
Resource Materials:
Pharmaceutical Cost, R&D Challenges, and Personalized Medicine
Ten Challenges in Prescription Drug Market – Cost <https://www.brookings.edu/research/ten-challenges-in-the-prescription-drug-market-and-ten-solutions/>
Big Data in Pharmaceutical R&D: Creating a Sustainable R&D Engine <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40290-015-0090-x> Peter Tormay
Bayer’s Explanation of Personalized Medicine <https://www.bayer.com/en/news-stories/personalized-medicine-from-a-one-size-fits-all-to-a-tailored-approach>
Patient Engagement and Centricity
Making Patient Engagement a Reality <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5766722/>
Think It Through: Managing the Benefits and Risks of Medicines <https://www.fda.gov/drugs/information-consumers-and-patients-drugs/think-it-through-managing-benefits-and-risks-medicines>
Patient Centricity and Pharmaceutical Companies: Is It Feasible? <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2168479017696268>
Traditional and Alternative Medicine
The Traditional Medicine and Modern Medicine from Natural Products <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6273146/>
Role of pharmacology for integration of modern medicine and Ayurveda <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4621664/> , P. S. R. K. Haranath
Number of States with Legalized Medical Marijuana <https://www.insidernj.com/press-release/booker-warren-call-doj-decriminalize-cannabis/>
Prescription Drug Stats
https://hpi.georgetown.edu/rxdrugs/ <https://hpi.georgetown.edu/rxdrugs/>
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2019/039-508.pdf
Images
5 elements of successful patient engagement <https://hitconsultant.net/2015/07/17/5-elements-of-successful-patient-engagement/#.YWUB3bhKhyw> – HIT Consultant News
Personalized Medicine Image <https://blog.crownbio.com/pdx-personalized-medicine>