Each human is genetically distinctive, and responds differently to disease-causing
factors as well as to drugs. Mechanisms inside human bodies that control drug
responses are complex and multifactorial. Pharmacogenomics arose in response to
such recognition of the necessity of personalized medicine, a medicine that deals
with the complexity of the human body. The development of pharmacogenomics
represents the evolution of biomedicine from treating the general disease itself to
treating the malfunction of an individual person, the “root” of diseases. With the
change of focus from diseases to humans, pharmacogenomics brings hope for the
transformation from disease treatment to disease prevention.