LAUSR

PurposeThis study aims to describe innovation profile in the field of personalized medicine. While the major market players have recognized the importance of personalizing health care as the next milestone towards improved clinical outcomes, a common framework has yet to emerge. In the absence of such governance framework, the practices of research and development can shape the progress of the field. The cognitive structure of the research and development in the personalized medicine is mapped by characterizing the attributes of underlying technological space.MethodsBy exploring the technological trajectory and emerging patterns of personalized medicine discerned in patenting activity and citation relations, a detailed picture of innovation in the field is obtained. Moreover, a topic modeling technique was applied to understand the emergence and institutionalization of new technological fields.ResultsThe results show that the patent landscape is dominated by therapeutic patents used in the oncology and therapeutic areas of neurodegenerative and infectious diseases. Increase in funding for the proper cycling between research, clinical care, and cost management program would accelerate the adoption of precision medicine and promote the convergence of IT-driven data science and the traditional natural sciences.ConclusionsThis work offers a complementary perspective to the field of personalized medicine, focusing on the exploitation of patent information. We expect that systematic understanding of the technology landscape and evolving R&D process in the personalized medicine may help to provide insights for making future technology planning more rationally.