Will Data-Driven Healthcare Bring Precision Medicine to All? - iQ by Intel

Experts discuss a medical ecosystem where people, policies and technology interconnect, allowing doctors to administer precise treatment to one patient -- the N of 1 -- and then deliver it to everyone. The old "take two aspirin and call me in the morning" cure is antithetical to today's precision medicine approach to healthcare, which zeroes in on an individual's unique genetic makeup, environment and lifestyle to determine an exacting treatment. Traditional healthcare is broadly based on cohort studies that compare risk factors and outcomes for a large set of patients who share similar symptoms. Cohort studies are more credible when the "N" -- the number of patients included in the study -- is very large. That's diametrically at odds with the goal of precision medicine, which aims to find a treatment plan tailored for a particular person: "The N of 1."