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Writer's picturePatricia Bartholomew
Dec 2, 20223 min read

Pharmacogenetics

The right drug, at the right dose, at the right time, how can Pharmacogenetics (a type of precision medicine) improve your health?


Have you ever wondered why some medications may not seem to help you as much as others?


Have you ever changed the dose or stopped taking a medication because you did not think it

worked for you or did not like the way it made you feel?


First, you need to understand what precision medicine and what pharmacogenetics is.

  • Precision medicine, (also called personalized medicine) is a medical model that tailors medicine to an individual.

  • Pharmacogenomics (sometimes called pharmacogenetics) is a field of research that studies how a person's genes affect how a person responds to medications.

Pharmacogenomics uses information about a person's genetic makeup, or genome, to choose the drugs and drug doses that are likely to work best for that person. Currently, medical providers usually prescribe drugs based mostly on factors such as a patient’s age, weight, sex, and liver and kidney function. For a few drugs, researchers have identified gene variants that affect how people respond. In these cases, providers can select the best medication and dose for each patient. For patients that are not responding well to a treatment plan there is a better way!


Especially for those patients that have polypharmacy. It is time to start educating everyone about


Pharmacogenomics.

Your genes determine a lot about how you look. They also play a key role in how medications

work in your body. Pharmacogenomics looks at how your DNA affects the way you respond to drugs. In some cases, your DNA can affect whether you have a bad reaction to a drug or whether a drug helps you or has no effect.


Pharmacogenomics can improve your health by helping you by informing you ahead of time whether a drug is likely to benefit you and be safe for you to take.

Knowing this information can help your medical provider find medicine that will work best for

you.


If this is something you would like to pursue, here is some valuable information for you. First,

how do you talk to your provider about pharmacogenetics and genetic testing? It is difficult to start a conversation unless you are prepared with some supporting facts.


Tools for the patient

Here are some informative websites that have tools to help you start the discussion.

• (https://www.cdc.gov/genomics/disease/pharma.htm)

product website and is not objective, it does however give good talking points if a patient

would like to discuss genetic testing with their medical provider.)


This is a new form of medical treatment, and many medical providers are not comfortable with or know about this option to improve your care. Here are some tools that you can take to your provider so they can learn more about pharmacogenetics and so they can feel more comfortable ordering these tests for you.


Tools for the Medical Provider

This is an excellent website for your medical provider to learn from.

The Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (Relling, & Klein, 2011) is an

international consortium of individual volunteers and a small, resolute staff who are interested in facilitating use of pharmacogenetic tests for patient care. This website can give your provider all the information they will need to start on the path to learn more about pharmacogenetics and genetic testing.


In my own practice, when I have a patient that is not responding well to my treatment plan or has failed multiple treatment plans, I talk to them about genetic testing. I educate them regarding genetic testing, share one or two websites and ask them to review the information and let them know this could help by providing me guidance on medication, dose, possible side effects, or differences in effectiveness. At my employer we use Quest Labs. Quest has a phenomenal educational program for patients and providers AND they have a staff of licensed genetic counselors to help guide the provider AND the patient.

Jump on board with Pharmacogenetics!!


Reference

CDC. (2022) Pharmacogenomics: What does it mean for your health?


Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium. (2022) What is CPIC?


Genelee. (2022) Talk to Your Healthcare Provider.



Relling, M. V., & Klein, T. E. (2011). CPIC: Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation

Consortium of the Pharmacogenomics Research Network. Clinical pharmacology and

therapeutics, 89(3), 464–467. https://doi.org/10.1038/clpt.2010.279



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