No more side effects
A quick search with key words “side effect definition” resulted in a list with multiple definitions, of which I picked the three (3) references Google displayed at the top:
NCI dictionary of cancer terms*
“An effect of a drug or other type of treatment that is in addition to or beyond its desired effect. Side effects can be harmful or beneficial, and most go away on their own over time. Others may last past treatment or appear long after treatment has ended. Some common side effects of cancer treatment are nausea, vomiting, fatigue, pain, decreased blood cell counts, hair loss, and mouth sores.”
“A secondary and usually adverse effect (as of a drug)”
“An unpleasant effect of a drug, medical treatment, or vaccine (=a substance put into a person’s body to stop them getting a disease) that happens in addition to the main intended effect.”
“An unexpected result of a situation”
Precision personalized medicine cannot resolve side effects.
Today, I am discussing side effects when using personalized precision medicine.
I believe, that side effects using personalized precision medicine can drive change for the better.
Let me explain why I belief this by first explaining the cause, the perception of side effects and how to turn it into good.
Even if we have targeted drugs being further optimized and personalized to hit the target to cure a patient from a disease, or to alleviate symptoms, other effects in the human body will occur. This is partially because of drug itself, or its metabolites and partially a result of the human body finding a new homeostasis.
Let’s start with the body when no drug is administered. Prior the disease, the body was in a certain homeostasis, but due to a trigger, it was thrown off and became imbalanced. This caused the body to trying to restore itself, finding a new balance. This new balance is a new state of the body at a later point in time. It is a new equilibrium. I think that restoring means that you fix something that was broken, but fixing means it can never return to what it was before. This residual effect, good or bad, is in my opinion a side effect.
When there is an intervention, and forgive me for calling it for the ease of read, “pathways” have been intervened with. After the intervention, the body might seem to return to its original state, but in the meantime, other pathways have been affected too. Even if you hit the target at the exact spot, there is always a domino effect of some sort. Nevertheless, the body is powerful and amazing, and will do everything to try to find a new balance. And this is exactly what I mean. Let this sink in. Is this good or bad or badly good?
This perspective of side effects changes our way of thinking and enables us to using science for precision medicine in a truly personalized way. We all know drugs that were developed to treat a specific disease, could also be used for other purposes. Unfortunately, we are often bound to our certain way of thinking, box thinking, and we are hiding behind policies using them as excuses which are stagnating us from being innovative. Why limiting ourselves to this thinking, when each human body, each human !! responds differently and even so might be wanting something differently and in need of something different. This is exactly why I believe that side effects can drive personalized precision medicine change for the better.
No more side effects.
*Accessed July 20 2024
