In a Wall Street Journal article today, columnist Sharon Begley introduces readers to the concept of biomarker tests. The hope and hype are both familiar to the scientific community but, until recently, have remained under the radar of the general public.
While Begley's article makes it clear that biomarkers are not yet ready for primetime, the question for this community is, how close are we? As this kind of information reaches consumers, questions will follow -- and it's not clear whether scientists, clinicians, and regulators have the necessary answers yet. What's needed to get on track to not only get biomarkers into mainstream medicine, but to prepare the mainstream audience for this new tool? Â