Precision Medicine and Specialty Drugs

Precision medicine can be defined as a "developing approach to disease treatment and prevention that takes individual diversity in genes, environment, and lifestyle under consideration for every person." Doctors and researchers are going to be able to anticipate more correctly whether treatment and prevention methods for a specific disease will work in which groups of people using this approach. It differs from a one-size-fits-all strategy, during which disease treatment and prevention techniques are designed for the standard person with little regard for individual differences.

Pharmaceuticals that are characterized as high-cost, high-complexity, and/or high-touch are referred to as specialty medications or specialty drugs. Biologics are "drugs created from living cells" that are injectable or infused (although some are oral treatments) to treat difficult or rare chronic medical conditions like cancer. Drugs are classified as specialty when their cost is much greater than that of non-specialty drugs. Any drug with a negotiated price of $670 per month or more is considered a specialty drug by Medicare and is placed in a specialty tier with a higher patient cost sharing requirement.