Personalized hepatitis C therapy: opportunities and pitfalls.

Experienced physicians have always used personalized therapy in clinical routine, long before the term personalized medicine was introduced. Optimal patient care is based on careful selection of patients who need treatment, and of therapeutic regimens that are likely to be effective and well tolerated. The clinical management of patients suffering from chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection represents an ideal setting to demonstrate the relevance of personalized medicine, the intricate roles of genetic and nongenetic factors, as well as the opportunities and risks associated with individualization of patient care. In the context of chronic HCV infection, the key questions are: ‘Who needs therapy?’, ‘Will therapy be effective?’ and ‘Will therapy be tolerated?’