Analysis by the Future Medicine Trends Observatory, promoted by the Fundación Instituto Roche.
The future of medicine is already here
The conference “Anticipating the Medicine of the Future,” organized by the Fundación Instituto Roche, brought together nationally renowned experts to reflect and debate on areas and trends that will be key in the future of medicine.
The seventh edition focused on Precision Phenotyping, Quantum Technologies, and Precision Nutrition.
This initiative is part of the Future Medicine Trends Observatory, established in 2017 to foster the generation and dissemination of knowledge about Personalized Precision Medicine and to help position Spain at the forefront of health innovation.
Within the 5P medicine model (Personalized, Predictive, Preventive, Participatory, and Population-based), today’s medicine is increasingly personalized.
As highlighted by Dr. Ángel Carracedo, director of the Fundación Pública Gallega de Medicina Genómica (Galician Health Service) and coordinator of the Genomic Medicine Group at the University of Santiago de Compostela, treatments are increasingly targeted at population subgroups linked to biomarkers.
“In the coming years, significant advances are expected in disease prediction and prevention. However, despite the patient being the true focus of the system, major global inequities remain in participatory and population medicine,” he stated.
Advances in personalized precision medicine
The Anticipating reports and, more broadly, the Observatory, have become reference points for identifying, analyzing, and disseminating advances in Personalized Precision Medicine. “All are authored by leading experts in each topic and provide reliable, rigorous information to understand the state of the art in each field we cover,” said Dr. Carracedo.
In this context, Precision Phenotyping emerges as a useful tool in Personalized Precision Medicine.
As noted by Dr. Pablo Lapunzina, research group leader at the Instituto de Genética Médica y Molecular (INGEMM) at IdiPaz and scientific director of CIBERER, during the first discussion panel, “This technology enables a deep, standardized, and codified understanding of diseases—not just in general terms but in how they manifest in each person. This optimizes the design of specific treatments and preventive strategies tailored to each patient’s unique needs, maximizing effectiveness and reducing unnecessary risks.”
Dr. Lapunzina elaborated that Precision Phenotyping is an advanced approach to thoroughly characterize the clinical, biological, and molecular traits of patients.
This process, he explained, integrates technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, omics data analysis, and advanced imaging techniques to capture specific, relevant information about each individual.
The integration of clinical, genomic, proteomic, and imaging data, the incorporation of Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) coding, and the analysis of specific biomarkers are enabling more accurate and faster disease subtyping. These advancements reduce misdiagnoses and delays in treatment. “In pediatrics, digital phenotyping is advancing early identification of rare diseases,” the specialist pointed out.
Additionally, he noted that beyond improving diagnoses and treatments, from a preventive perspective, this approach allows for the identification of risks before a disease manifests, enabling early interventions.
Precision Phenotyping represents a revolution in modern medicine, “though it still depends heavily on technological advances and a robust infrastructure to manage and analyze large volumes of data,” the expert stated.
Its gradual incorporation into healthcare practice will enable the coding and standardization of clinical information.
Integrating quantum technologies into hospital practice
Technological development and appropriate infrastructure are also essential for integrating quantum technologies into hospital practice.
During the second panel discussion, “Quantum Technologies in the Medicine of the Future,” the session moderator, Dr. Fernando Martín Sánchez, deputy director of Medical Informatics, Digital Strategy, and Innovation at Hospital Universitario La Paz, emphasized that these technologies—including quantum sensors, quantum computing, and quantum cryptography—“will enable rapid and precise calculations, improving the processing and management of large data volumes.”
He also noted that these advancements will enable techniques that enhance the protection of patient data privacy.
Specifically, as Dr. Martín Sánchez explained, quantum sensors and quantum computing will allow for more precise modeling of molecular interactions, facilitating the identification of promising compounds for drug development.
“By better understanding molecular structures and dynamics, it becomes possible to design drugs that optimally target therapeutic goals,” he explained.
In this vein, he stressed that the ability to analyze vast amounts of molecular and clinical data using quantum algorithms could lead to treatments tailored to the individual characteristics of each patient.
Furthermore, recent years have seen the development of new cryptographic mechanisms aimed at safeguarding health data security in storage, exchange, and analysis. “Implementing and integrating quantum cryptography into current protection systems could ensure a completely secure data environment,” Dr. Martín Sánchez stated.
The evolution of quantum technologies applied to medicine will progress gradually over the coming decades.
In Dr. Martín Sánchez’s words, “In the medium term, we can expect solutions for accelerated drug discovery, support for optimizing personalized treatments, and quantum diagnostic systems. In the long term, we could see genuine clinical integration supporting predictive medicine and research through simulations of complex biological systems, improving the understanding of diseases such as neurodegenerative disorders.”