The Personalized Medicine Initiative (PMI) is a non-profit enterprise based in Vancouver, Canada that is focused on introducing personalized, molecularly-based medicine into the front lines of healthcare. The PMI is taking advantage of new technologies that increasingly allow individuals to be analyzed at the molecular level in a rapid and cost-effective manner. These analyses  enables both effective preventive medicine as more precise diagnostics to accurately match therapy to disease. The PMI is pursuing an “end-to-end” approach. First, the PMI has developed the resources necessary to construct the genomic, proteomic, metabolomic and microbiomic “data clouds” around individuals to determine their risks of disease, diagnose overt disease and monitor response to therapy. These “molecular you” profiles are now being generated by a PMI company called the Molecular You Corporation (MYCO). Second, in order to use molecular level information clinicians require clinical decision support systems (CDSS) to assist them in deciding on the most appropriate therapy. Again, the PMI has formed a company called GenXys to develop CDSS to assist the prescription practices of family doctors. The MYCO molecular you profiles are proving remarkably useful for early detection of disease and to guide lifestyle and diet changes to correct trends towards disease. GenXys, on the other hand, is commercializing a simple genetic test to guide drug prescription to avoid adverse drug reactions. This is achieved by construction of algorithms that incorporate genetic information together with standard clinical information to guide prescription of over 200 commonly prescribed drugs. 

Learning Objectives:

1. Integrated Omics (proteomic, genomic, microbiomic, metabolomic) profiling can be of use for empowering individuals to practice more effective preventive healthcare.
2. Molecular level information can be used by family physicians to assist in drug prescription on an individualized basis.