Individualized medicine: From potential to macro innovation

Abstract

Individualized Medicine has the potential to change the relationship of doctors and patients, to alter the rules, institutions and regulations of the health care sector and even to influence societal values. However, there are major barriers preventing the key stakeholders to adopt this new approach to medicine. The aims of this contribution are: First, to analyze these barriers. Second, to investigate, whether Individualized Medicine has the potential to become a macro innovation. It concludes that Individualized Medicine is still in an early stage of the development and adoption process so that it has to mature in a niche before it can become the new standard solution for the health care system for allocating scarce resources.