Abstract
Theranostics signals the integrated application of molecular diagnostics, therapeutic treatment and patient response monitoring. Such integration has hitherto neglected another crucial dimension: coproduction of theranostic scientific knowledge, novel technological development and broader sociopolitical systems whose boundaries are highly porous. Nanodiagnostics applications to theranostics are one of the most contested and potentially volatile postgenomics innovation trajectories as they build on past and current tensions and promises surrounding both nanotechnology and personalized medicine. Recent science policy research suggests that beneficial outcomes of innovations do not simply flow from the generation of scientific knowledge and technological capability in a linear or automatic fashion. Thus, attempts to offset public concerns about controversial emerging technologies by expert risk assurances can be unproductive. Anticipation provides a more robust basis for governance that supports genuine healthcare progress. This article presents a synthesis of novel policy approaches that directly inform theranostics medicine and the future(s) of postgenomics healthcare.
