Table of Contents
Introduction
Biotechnology in medicine dates back to the history of biotechnology’s discovery and first use for medical purposes. Biotechnology has contributed greatly to medicine and has provided numerous medicines that have completely changed the way we live and deal with various medical problems.
The use of biotechnology in medicine is dealt with in a separate department, the so-called Red Biotechnology. This department is concerned with easily eliminating the jobs of doctors and pharmacists, curing diseases and improving the overall quality of life.
Medicine Biotechnology or Biotechnology Medicine is the field in which living cells and other related cellular material are used in research. We develop a variety of products that can be used in diagnostics or pharmaceutical processes. The main purpose of these products is to cure or prevent disease.
Generally Medicines/drugs are prescribed for treatment of specific disease based on the concept “one medicine fits all” In other words medicines are given for a disease without looking into the Constitution of the patient.
Except in some cases where a physician may enquire or examine about allergenicity of the patient to sulphur drugs or some antibiotics.
However, it is now known that the response to a particular drug may differ in different patients suffering from with the same disease.
Pharmacogenetics and personalized Medicine
As discussed above the post genomic era gas started with a promise of tailoring the practice of medicine to the individual. This is sometimes described as personalized medicine.
Personalized medicine is an emerging practice of medicine that uses an individual’s genetic profile to guide decisions made in regard to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease.
However personalized medicine and pharmacogenetics do not mean the same thing, because pharmacogenetics on only a part of personalized.
Advantages of Personalized Medicine
- Low probability of untoward side effects.
- Preventive strategies.
- Focussed therapies.
- Reduced costs.
- Better health and better health care.
Biotechnology Applications in Medicine
Insulin is required by diabetic patients to remove excess sugar from the blood. Diabetic patients have a very low level of insulin or no insulin produced by the body. Therefore, they need external insulin to control blood glucose levels.
Gene Therapy
Gene Therapy holds the most promising answer to the problem of genetic diseases. Gene therapy is used to treat genetic disorders usually by the insertion of a normal gene or correct gene for the defective or inactive gene into an individual with the help of vectors such as retrovirus, adenovirus, and herpes simplex virus.
Molecular Diagnosis
Medical diagnosis is another application of biotechnology in the health sector. Many times the pathogen concentration increases by the time the disease is diagnosed. Hence, early diagnosis and knowledge of pathophysiology are essential for an effective cure.