In medicine, modern biotechnology provides significant applications in such areas as pharmacogenomics, genetic testing (prenatal diagnosis), and gene therapy.
Pharmacogenomics, the combination of pharmacology and genomics, is the study of the relationship between pharmaceuticals and genetics.
Pharmacogenomics will result in the following benefits:
Development of tailor-made medicines.
More accurate methods of determining appropriate drug dosages.
Improvements in the drug discovery and approval process.
Better vaccines.
Genetic testing involves the direct examination of DNA sequences.
Genetic testing can be used to: diagnose a disease; confirm a diagnosis; provide prognostic information about the course of a disease; confirm the existence of a disease; predict the risk of future development of a disease in otherwise healthy individuals or their children; screen for carriers (unaffected individuals who are heterozygous for a disease gene); perform prenatal diagnostic screening; and perform newborn screening.
