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Tag Archives: Pharmacogenetics/pharmacogenomics

More progress, fewer barriers for PGx testing

January 2024—Sometimes even superb ideas can also turn out to be quite, well, bothersome. Zoom meetings. Bridal showers. Bike lanes. Parking apps. QR menu codes. And—if laboratories aren’t careful—the same can be true of pharmacogenomic testing. Just ask Ann Moyer, MD, PhD, associate professor, laboratory medicine and pathology, Mayo Clinic. When it comes to pharmacogenomic testing, laboratory medicine brings significant expertise to the table. But in clinical settings, physicians who prescribe the medications need to be familiar with how to use the test results. They also need to work with the lab to decide which tests, for which genes or gene-drug pairs, will be most helpful for their patients, she says. “Especially if you’re going to start incorporating clinical support alerts into the EHR,” adds Dr. Moyer, who was chair of (until Dec. 31; she is now advisor to) the CAP/ACMG Biochemical and Molecular Genetics Committee. “If the practice doesn’t actually want them, then you’re just going to end up annoying them.”

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PGx testing wave runs uphill and down

February 2020—Human endeavors are bursting with unintended consequences. Kudzu comes to mind. Smokestacks. Some even point fingers at Smokey Bear. John Greden, MD, offers an example of his own, one with renewed relevance in pharmacogenomics. It’s a subject he’s studied closely, including as principal investigator of the GUIDED trial  Researchers looked at whether offering clinicians access to a pharmacogenomics test report would improve treatment for more than 1,100 patients with a major depressive disorder who had already failed to respond to an average of 3.5 antidepressant trials.

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For pain care and more, PGx testing at Avera Health

July 2018—Putting pharmacogenetic testing into play at Avera Health was years in the making. It took time to operationalize it at an affordable cost. Today, it has wide physician acceptance and is seen as a strong benefit for patients. “Pharmacogenetics is what will differentiate Avera in a new era of ACOs and personalized medicine, and will ultimately lead to a model for transforming health care,” says Trisha Lauterbach, MS, MLS(ASCP)CM, laboratory operations manager at Avera Institute for Human Genetics (AIHG), Sioux Falls, SD.

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Pharmacogenomics advocates make case for wider use

May 2018—Use of pharmacogenomic testing is still limited, despite ample research, the existence of guidelines, and the emerging evidence it can help patients. Panels can be costly and insurance coverage variable, and providers need guidance—from pharmacists, the lab, decision support alerts—in knowing what and when to order and in understanding the results. Plus, patients move.

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At St. Jude, preemptive PGx tests guide prescribing

April 2015—St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, brings a razor-sharp focus to its mission: the 78-bed institution cares for children with catastrophic illnesses, including leukemias and lymphomas, solid tumors, hematology disorders (including sickle cell disease), and infectious diseases. It doesn’t have an emergency department. Consistent with its goal of advancing cures, all its patients are enrolled in research protocols.

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Building the case for PGx testing

January 2013—Mammals have a striking range of gestation periods, from the 12 days and 31 days of the opossum and rabbit to the 266 days and 360 days of the human and whale. Laboratory tests, too, take shorter or longer amounts of time to be delivered into routine clinical practice, with pharmacogenomics beginning to look like the elephant—more than 600 days’ gestation—of laboratory testing. Our first major discussion of this topic was in 2005, and the clinical pathology world had been “expecting” its arrival for some time before that.

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