NYT asks a serious question: could we cure diseases faster, or at least better control them, through crowd-sourcing?
PatientsLikeMe provides forums where more than 65,000 members with epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and more than a dozen other disorders are encouraged to share details about their conditions and the success or pitfalls of specific drug treatments.
Members can seek out patients of the same age, sex, and disease progression, whose profiles are displayed on the site, to see which drugs or doses worked for them. Drug makers can pinpoint subgroups — say, severely depressed middle-aged men — who reported the greatest improvement on a particular medication.
Another project, just started, Pazienti.org is becoming the place where patients can submit their experiences to improve the quality of service of medical institutions.
Comments