The Cancer Moonshot program set the stage for elevating the importance of precision medicine (PM) as “an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person”. Implementation of PM as a medical model has wide-reaching implications for changing standards of care and the underpinnings of how the life science industry develops therapeutics and targets patients. Continuing advances in the identification of the molecular mechanisms responsible for the pathogenesis of cancer, regardless of site of origin, have opened the potential for broad application of DNA and RNA therapeutics across cancer types. Additionally, the evolving success of new immunotherapies is an example of imprecise medicine as clinicians are trying to understand who will and will not respond. The DNA, RNA and cell-based immunotherapies used in combination are becoming the future standard of cancer treatment. In addition, the role of big data, artificial intelligence, and the integration of an array of ‘omic’ platforms promises the implementation of precision therapies for future patients in their fight against cancer.
