In the 24 hours before he spoke to the Journal, paediatric oncologist Professor Nick Gottardo was beginning to decode three precision medicine puzzles. Their solutions will carry great weight in a life-or-death outcome for three children with brain tumours.

Each one is a real-world example of the potential of a personalised treatment, versus traditional protocols that take a one-size-fits-all approach. Precision medicine, as it’s known, typically relies on testing the genetic make-up of the patient. While it can offer tailored medical solutions, it also raises ethical dilemmas insurance professionals continue to wrestle with.

Brave new world

Precision medicine is a relatively new direction in therapy that promises better outcomes, fewer side effects and a much-improved quality of life for people who otherwise had little chance of survival, or who faced the prospect of ongoing medical issues resulting from their treatment.

While Gottardo specialises in the treatment of childhood cancers, precision medicine is also being used to treat adults with breast cancer, melanoma, colorectal cancer and many more life-threatening diseases. In some instances, tests establish if cancer cells exhibit a certain gene or protein changes that are being targeted in clinical trial by a new medicine.

This gives researchers better information on how a new treatment works, and it can get patients better outcomes.

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