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How Much Will That Be?

Just more than a quarter of people have heard of the term 'personalized medicine,' according to a recent survey conducted by GfK Bridgehead, a market research firm. Additionally, as Ed Silverman at Pharmalot notes, many people think that such tailored treatments will lead to a rise in healthcare costs.

Of those that knew the term 'personalized medicine,' only a handful could describe it correctly — 4 percent said it dealt with medicine based upon a patent's genetic or genomic makeup. About half of the respondents, though, the report says, were interested in genetic testing, and people with past cancer diagnoses were particularly interested in genetic testing.

However, respondents were also concerned about the costs of testing, as 45 percent said that is the main thing they wanted to learn about personalized medicine.

"The survey shows patients actually have very different preferences relating to information about their own risk status and information that would help direct their therapy choices," Susan Garfield, a senior vice president at GfK, tells Silverman.