Personalized medicine in Brazil: a new paradigm, old problems

Resumen

Purpose – Personalized medicine (PM) encompasses a set of procedures, technologies and medications;
the term became more prominent from the 2000s onwards and stems from the mapping of the human
genome. The purposes of this study were to analyse the development stage of the process of
technological innovation for PM and the obstacles that prevent PM from being adopted in the public
health system in Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach – As a research method, this paper opts for a case study carried out at
the Hospital das Clínicas, which belongs to São Paulo Medical School. In total, 22 in-depth interviews were
carried out at the hospital to identify current practices in PM, future prospects and barriers imposed to the
adoption of PM technologies in public health.
Findings – Personalized or precision medicine is already a reality for a small portion of the Brazilian
population and is gradually gaining ground in public health care. One finding is that such changes are
occurring in a disjointed manner in an incomplete and under development health innovation system. The
analysis pointed out that the obstacles identified in Brazil are the same as those faced by high-income
countries such as regulation, lack of clinical studies and need to adapt clinical studies to PM. They appear in
all stages of the innovation cycle, from research to widespread use.
Research limitations/implications – The research method was a case study, so the findings cannot be
extrapolated to other contexts. A limited number of professionals were interviewed, their opinions may not
reflect those of their organizations.
Originality/value – There are several studies that discuss how health-care systems in high-income
countries could incorporate these new technologies, but only a few focuses on low or middle-income countries
such as Brazi