Several challenges must be managed in order for personalised medicine to be realised. In addition to scientific tasks it will be critical to address the major gap in perception and knowledge between the scientific community and the lay public regarding drug development and pharmaceutical innovation.

Well-informed patients and their professional carers will play a key role in the implementation of personalised medicine. This will happen in terms of developing a general understanding among the public, and also at an individual patient level, ensuring that people know how to use medicines targeted to patient sub-groups in a safe and effective manner.

This requires awareness building and training. Advancing and coordinating parallel work done by patient organisations, professional groups, pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions.

This session addresses these issues through the following:

• The need for education and training opportunities that are easy accessible for patients, and health care professionals.
• Information to Patient
• The need for recognition of the complex nature of pharmaceutical benefit/risk information; we will develop a patient-centred, cognitive-guided structure for benefit/risk.
• The need of ethical management of potentially conflicting interests associated with genotyping of individuals.