ABSTRACT
The concept of personalised medicine is not only often used in oncology, but also raises hopes of successful treatments for other common diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes mellitus and mental disorders. Public research funding has declared personalised medicine to be a priority both at the European and also at the national level, and large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies invest billions of euros into this research. The high investment costs in research based on molecular genetic criteria raise the question of opportunity costs. This type of research ultimately provides stratified medical care that only benefits subgroups of patients. The health care market in the US, with its strong private sector orientation and a high proportion of citizens who lack medical insurance, differs greatly from European health care systems.
