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Rise of Pharmacogenomics

Did you think it is stress or the cardio vascular diseases that are the No.1 killer globally? If yes, kindly stand corrected. You will be in for a surprise. The real No.1 killer is the Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) that spirals down to multiple life-threatening conditions. It is in this context that the rise of Pharmacogenomics is growing rapidly worldwide.

Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) is defined as an appreciably harmful or unpleasant reaction due to an error, misuse or abuse of a medical intervention. It can also be due to suspected reactions to medicines that are unlicensed or being used off-label in addition to the authorised use of a medicinal product in normal doses. Adverse effects usually predict hazard from future administration and warrant prevention, or specific treatment, or alteration of the dosage regimenor withdrawal of the product itself. They are a common manifestation in clinical practice, including unscheduled hospital admissions, occurring during normal hospital admission and manifesting after discharge.

Pharmacogenomics: A Potential Saviour?

Pharmacogenomics is the study of how genes affect a person's response to drugs. This relatively new field combines pharmacology (the science of drugs) and genomics (the study of genes and their functions) to develop effective, safe medications and doses that will be tailored to a person's genetic makeup.

Many generic drugs available in the open market today are based on the "one size fits all" philosophy. Do they work the same way for everyone? Certainly not. In the clinical practice, it may be difficult to predict who will benefit from a medication, who will not respond at all, and who will experience negative side effects. However, from the research findings of the Human Genome Project, researchers are learning how inherited differences in genes affect the body's response to medications, though the field is still in its infancy. These genetic differences will be used to predict whether a medication will be effective for a particular person and to help prevent adverse drug reactions.

Pharmacogenomics allows the development of tailored drugs to treat a wide range of health problems, including cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer disease, cancer, HIV/AIDS, and asthma.It deals with the influence of acquired and inherited genetic variation on drug response in patients by correlating gene expression or single-nucleotide polymorphisms with pharmacokinetics (drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination) and pharmacodynamics (effects mediated through a drug's biological targets.

The term pharmacogenomics is often used interchangeably with pharmacogenetics. Although both terms relate to drug response based on genetic influences, pharmacogenetics focuses on single drug-gene interactions, while pharmacogenomics encompasses a more genome-wide association approach, incorporating genomics and epigenetics while dealing with the effects of multiple genes on drug response.

Pharmacogenomics was first recognized by Pythagoras around 510 BC when he made a connection between the dangers of fava bean ingestion with hemolyticanemia and oxidative stress. This identification was later validated and attributed to deficiency of G6PD in the 1950s and called favism. There are several known genes which are largely responsible for variances in drug metabolism and response.For patients who have lack of therapeutic response to a treatment, alternative therapies can be prescribed that would best suit their requirements.

At Welocity Genetics DNA Testing Program we offer an exclusive Pharmacology panel that tests your risk factors for certain classes of medicine and its efficacy. This testing helps a qualified medical practitioner to eliminate the trial-and-error method of prescribing, allowing to take into consideration their patient's genes, the functionality of these genes, and how this may affect the efficacy of the patient's current or future treatments.