Pharmacogenetics is the biological discipline that studies the effect of an individual’s genetic variability on their response to certain drugs. It offers the possibility of developing a new generation of drugs, optimizing their efficacy and safety, with important implications for clinical practice.
Greater knowledge of pharmacogenetics will allow personalized medicine, i.e., individualized therapy for each individual. It will be possible to identify the most effective drugs, a better dosage and the optimal concentrations of them, avoiding undesirable side effects. This will make it possible to move away from empiricism at the time of prescription, substantially reducing the need for hospitalization and the associated costs.
Once a drug is administered, it is absorbed and distributed to its site of action where it interacts with its substrate (receptors and enzymes), then metabolized and excreted. At each of these steps there may be a genetic variation with a different clinical outcome. These inherited variations play a major role in the transport, distribution and interaction of drugs with therapeutic targets and drug metabolism.
The goal is to understand the increasing complexity of the human genome and to gain insight into how individual genetic variations influence drug metabolism, which will be a challenge for the coming decades.
I want to know my drug compatibility, where do I start?
An excellent way to start knowing your body’s response to certain drugs is to take a DNA test such as the ones we have at your disposal at tellmeGen.
With this test you will be able to know more than 150 drug interactions related to your genetics. These interactions will help you to reduce, in case you require it, the probability of adverse reactions or undesired side effects.
Discover the list of pharmacological compatibilities list we offer at tellmeGen by clicking on the link.