Implementing proteomics-based solutions has emerged as a potentially highly powerful and transformative approach in enhancing patient management by streamlining clinical decision-making and accelerating drug development. Specific changes in proteins are generally responsible for onset and progression of disease. This understanding serves as a foundation for identifying biomarkers, discovering drug targets, and developing novel therapeutics. Despite substantial progress, several challenges and gaps persist. These include among others technical limitations, regulatory hurdles, legal, ethics and data protection issues. Addressing these obstacles necessitates a multifaceted approach involving critical evaluation, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and the inclusion of diverse stakeholder perspectives. Such a comprehensive strategy appears essential for advancing proteomics from research to implementation, ultimately benefiting patients. To this end, the PROTEOMICS journal is launching a special section dedicated to clinical proteomics. This initiative aims to highlight the critical aspects of (prote)omics-guided biomarker and drug development, address existing challenges, and propose potential solutions for implementation. By fostering collaboration among scientists, clinicians, patients, regulators, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and funding agencies, we hope to spark discussions that pave the way for adopting proteomics-based approaches to improve patient outcomes.