TOKYO – Matusushita Electrical Industrial Co. claims to have developed technology that can determine a person’s response to medication as well as their risk of developing diseases.

Matsushita, better known through its well-established brand, Panasonic, collaborated with researchers at Konan University for this project. The company claims the technology is the first of its kind in the world. The technology uses artificial DNA that is dissolved in a solution rather than being attached to an electrode.

The technology electronically identifies sequence variations in a specific DNA strand, called single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNP’s. An SNP refers to one base pair and its position in the DNA sequence that is different from the other base pair. It is these differences in base pairs which are said to generate individual differences in each person’s reaction to drugs, development diseases and other health related factors.

There can be several benefits to patients and doctors for this technology once adopted. For patients, they can start taking precautions once it is determined that they are at risk of developing a certain disease. When prescribing medication to patients, doctors would be able to calculate the response from taking the medication. This would enable doctors to both inform patients of the possible body responses and decide better alternatives.

Matsushita said that hospitals and doctors can gain tremendous benefits from this breakthrough in technology. Increasing accuracy of any treatment is bound to be welcomed by both patients and the medical community.