Advancing pharmacogenomics as a component of precision medicine: How, where and who?

Clinical & Pharmacology & Therapeutics – Pharmacogenomics is an important element of precision medicine. Advances in pharmacogenomics implementation have been made but significant barriers remain, including evidence, reimbursement, and clinician knowledge, among others. Widespread adoption of pharmacogenomics requires overcoming these barriers, a clinician champion group, which we propose will be pharmacists, and an easily accessible setting, which may be the community pharmacy.

Pharmacogenomics of Hypertension and Heart Disease

Current Hypertension Report – Heart disease is a leading cause of death in the United States, and hypertension is a predominant risk factor. Thus, effective blood pressure control is important to prevent adverse sequelae of hypertension, including heart failure, coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation, and ischemic stroke. Over half of Americans have uncontrolled blood pressure, which may in part be explained by interpatient variability in drug response secondary to genetic polymorphism.

Attitudes of Clinicians Following Large-Scale Pharmacogenomics Implementation

Pharmacogenomics Journal – Clinician attitudes towards multiplexed genomic testing may be vital to the success of translational programs. We surveyed clinicians at an academic medical center about their views on a large pharmacogenomics implementation, the PREDICT (Pharmacogenomic Resource for Enhanced Decisions in Care & Treatment) program.

Pharmacogenomics in cardiology – genetics and drug response: 10 years of progress

Future Cardiology – Following completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, Dr Francis Collins and others on behalf of the National Human Genome Research Institute announced their vision for the future of genomics research. A number of grand challenges were identified, and among these were developing strategies to identify genetic contributions to drug response, creating genome-based approaches to predict drug response, and applying discoveries to promote the use of genomic information into clinical practice. The NIH has invested significant resources in addressing these challenges, including funding the International HapMap and 1000 Genomes Projects, which have enabled genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of drug response.

Personalized medicine in diabetes mellitus: current opportunities and future prospects

Annals of the New York Academy of sciences – Currently, there are 382 million people living with diabetes mellitus around the world, and the total number is predicted to increase by over 50% over the next 20 years. Diabetes mellitus is a spectrum of metabolic disorders characterized by hyperglycemia. Poorly controlled diabetes mellitus can lead to microvascular and macrovascular complications, including kidney failure, blindness, amputation, and cardiovascular disease. Fortunately, medical advances have increased the number of treatment options for diabetes and improved outcomes for many individuals. However, there remains a need to determine the appropriate therapy for each individual, since a significant number of monotherapy treatments fail within 3 years and diabetes-related morbidity and mortality continue.

Report of New Haplotype for ABCC2 Gene

The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics – The ATP-binding cassette, subfamily C [CFTR/MRP], member 2 (ABCC2) gene is a member of the ATP-binding cassette transporters and is involved in the transport of molecules across cellular membranes. Substrates transported by ABCC2 include antiepileptics, statins, tenofovir, cisplatin, irinotecan, and carbamazepine. Because of the pharmacogenomics implications, we developed a clinical laboratory–developed assay to test for seven variants in the ABCC2 gene: c.3563T>A (p.V1188E, rs17222723), c.1249G>A (p.V417I, rs2273697), c.3972C>T (p.I1324I, rs3740066), c.2302C>T (p.R768W, rs56199535), c.2366C>T (p.S789F, rs56220353), c.-24C>T (5′UTR, rs717620), and c.4544G>A (p.C1515Y, rs8187710)

Emerging Roles for Pharmacists in Clinical Implementation of Pharmacogenomics

Pharmacotherapy – Pharmacists are uniquely qualified to play essential roles in the clinical implementation of pharmacogenomics. However, specific responsibilities and resources needed for these roles have not been defined. We describe roles for pharmacists that emerged in the clinical implementation of genotype-guided clopidogrel therapy in the University of Florida Health Personalized Medicine Program, summarize preliminary program results, and discuss education, training, and resources needed to support such programs. Planning for University of Florida Health Personalized Medicine Program began in summer 2011 under leadership of a pharmacist, with clinical launch in June 2012 of a clopidogrel-CYP2C19 pilot project aimed at tailoring antiplatelet therapies for patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention and stent placement.