Present State and Advances in Personalized Medicine — Importance of the Development of Information Service Systems for the Public — YOSHIHIRO SOWA

The International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium, which launched the Human Genome Project in 1990, announced a draft sequence of the human genome in cooperation with Celera Genomics in 2001 The consortium released the finished version of the sequence and announced the completion of the project in October 2004. The complete human genome sequence was obtained using DNA samples taken from only a few people. The completion of the project led to the post-genome era, and the next important task is to apply the genome information of each individual to medicine and promote personalized medicine. T h i s a r t i c l e d i s c u s s e s a d v a n c e s i n pharmacogenomics * and molecular targeted anticancer drugs *, both of which are rapidly evolving technologies, and suggests future initiatives to achieve social acceptance and public understanding of personalized medicine through the provision of genome-related information to the public (Figure 1). These issues need to be addressed to successfully promote personalized medicine.