In the short-term, Dr. Hood predicts that the longitudinal study will allow for creation of models for each individual to optimize wellness and minimize disease. In the intermediate term, the data from the well people will be mined for metrics of wellness. Long term, the study will generate a database that elucidates factors associated with the transition from wellness to disease, allowing alteration of the trajectory of disease for many patients.
"My own view is that in a 10- to 15-year period, the wellness industry will be independent from the health care industry, and its total market cap will far exceed that of the health care industry. What is exciting to think is that now, today, we’re just beginning to create the companies that will be the Googles and the Microsofts of the wellness industry. It really is a unique and exciting kind of opportunity," he said.
There’s no way to predict how long it will take for P4 medicine to be fully realized.
"But we are in a unique position now, for the first time, to begin looking at the dynamics of not one human disease, but many different human diseases," he said.