Mixed Signals on Precision Medicine
April 1, 2019
As some health professionals see a benefit in genetically testing patients to aid in prescribing drugs for depression, many others, as well as the US Food and Drug Administration, remain skeptical, even seeing potential for harm. And on a broader scale, a scholar of anthropology and genetics recently argued in Issues that such “precision medicine”—tailoring treatments for both mental and physical disorders based on genetic testing—is doomed to fail, and that pursing this scientific mirage may misdirect vital resources from more fruitful areas of research.