Many researchers believe that pharmacogenomics will revolutionize modern medicine and stand as a milestone of scientific achievement. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), pharmacogenomics is the study of how genes affect the body’s response to medications. While it is well known that physical features such as eye and hair color are based on inherited genes from our parents, researchers have already identified several genes that affect how a person will respond to various medications. Based on the information collected through pharmacogenomics, doctors will be able to prescribe medications to patients in a very specific manner.
Here’s how it works: your doctor will need a sample of your DNA, which will most likely be obtained by a cheek swab. Your DNA will be sent to a lab where it will be entirely mapped out and sent back to your doctor in the form of a genetic profile. This profile will serve as a guide for how your doctor prescribes medications, based on your genetic makeup. Most importantly, this science is based around the prevention of adverse drug reactions (ADRs).
Approximately 100,000 people die from ADRs each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). With the advent of pharmacogenomics, researchers believe that they will significantly reduce that number. According to the Mayo Clinic, a renowned leader in medical research, when an individual’s DNA is mapped out, physicians will be provided the opportunity to prescribe medications without the guesswork. The genetic profile will tell the doctor which medications will cause an ADR, whether the patient’s body will break down the medication too quickly to be effective or if the patient’s body takes too long to break down the medication, causing a potentially toxic accumulation.
While existing medications will be prescribed more efficiently, pharmacogenomics will change the way medications are developed as well. During human trials, patients can be selected via pharmacogenomics; this will reduce the amount of ADRs during trials and and will increase positive responses to the new medications, making the process of developing new drugs less timely and less expensive.
Currently, pharmacogenomics has a few gaps to bridge before it can be adopted into medical practice. The cost of mapping an individual’s genome has to drop in order for this technology to become available for the general public, and physicians must be educated on the technology as well as how to navigate the genetic profiles for medical practice. Blackburn professor of biology Dr. David Reid acknowledged that “there is the ethical side associated with collecting genomic information,” and asked, “who gets control of this information? Does an insurance company have access to this information?” While pharmacogenomics has plenty to accomplish before it can become available to everyone, its arrival is being greatly anticipated in the medical world.