Personalized Medicine vs. Precision Medicine

According to Dr. Jennifer Levin Carter, MD, founder and CEO of Medzown, the concept of personalized medicine shifted from a general idea that all people should have personalized care based on their circumstances to how biology can be used to design a drug that works for a specific disease at a specific time.

“Precision medicine really is understanding the data, the biology that drives disease, the initial focus on this was really around in oncology, and if we look at the advancements in oncology over the past 15 years, they've been profound with the use of genetics and genomics to identify biological factors in patients tumors that have driven the development of targeted therapies and immunotherapies that have really transformed the treatment of patients with cancer,” Dr. Carter explains. “Now even deeper information on genetics has allowed us to develop gene therapies and other treatments that are transformative for rare diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and autoimmune disease.”

Patient access to precision medicine is one of the biggest challenges to their success, according to Dr. Carter. “There's a tremendous amount of progress, but the drugs are, while they're fantastic drugs, they're incredibly expensive, they're quite esoteric in terms of how to use them and for which patients, and we need to really understand,” Dr. Carter says. “And this was where we get really into the precision medicine aspect. We need to both understand the biology of the patient’s disease and how to get patients access to the right drugs at the right time in a financially sustainable way for the system.”

Dr. Carter will be discussing how precision-guided platforms can help pharmaceutical companies manage the costs of developing precision medicines, such as cell and gene therapies, and therefore improve patient access, at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, which is being held from January 12–15.

About the speaker

Jennifer Levin Carter, MD, MPH, MBA is Founder & CEO of Medzown. Dr. Carter is a globally recognized leader in precision medicine, with a proven track record of building transformative companies at the intersection of data, technology, and patient care. She was the Founder and President of N-of-One, Inc., where she served as CEO from 2008–2012 and later as President and Chief Medical Officer until its acquisition by Qiagen (Market Cap $8B) in 2019. At N-of-One, Dr. Carter led the development of award-winning solutions that continue to deliver novel treatment strategies to hundreds of thousands of cancer patients worldwide.

In 2018, Dr. Carter founded a novel clinical trials company focused on reimagining trial design and access. She served as CEO until its pre-launch acquisition by Integral Health (now Valo Health) in March 2019. These experiences cemented her reputation as an innovator in precision medicine, clinical trial delivery, and patient-centered care models.

Following these ventures, Dr. Carter became a Managing Partner and Venture Partner at Sandbox Industries and Blue Venture Fund, a unique collaboration between BCBS companies, BCBSA, and Sandbox. It was in this role—working closely with BCBS executives—that she gained a deep understanding of the challenges associated with the rising costs of cell and gene therapy. This insight inspired her to launch Medzown, where she continues to address those challenges by building scalable, technology-enabled solutions to improve patient access to advanced therapies.

Dr. Carter is also a seasoned healthcare executive, investor, and board member with expertise spanning healthcare IT and services, digital health and machine learning, genomics, drug development, and the creation of next-generation platforms to improve therapeutic access. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Synteny.ai, TempraMed, Inc., and Target Cancer Foundation, and is a strategic advisor to numerous venture-backed healthcare and life sciences companies.

Previously, she has held board roles at Oncocyte (NASDAQ: OCX), XSphera Biosciences (Co-Founder), CareMax (NASDAQ: CMAX), DFP Healthcare Acquisitions Corp (NASDAQ: DFPH), HouseWorks, eCaring, and others. She also serves on the Director’s Advisory Board at Smilow New Haven Cancer Center at Yale University, the Board of the Blavatnik Fund at Yale University, and the MedExec Women’s Advisory Board.

Dr. Carter earned a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry (Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude with distinction) from Yale University, an MD from Harvard Medical School, an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health, and an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. She is a member of the American Association of Corporate Directors (Advanced Professional Director Certification), National Association of Corporate Directors, Women Corporate Directors, Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry Foundation, and Women in Bio.