Front page News Events Features Bus. Therapeutics Legal Co. Tech. Gail I.R. Adam Ph.D., Head of Molecular Science, Gemini Genomics, Sweden.
Individuals show variation in responses to particular drug treatments.
That such variations could be attributed to genetic factors was first demonstrated several decades ago, but it is only now that we are beginning to understand how and why. Mean average approach to treatment efficacy Population-wide drug responses typically appear as Gaussian distribution curves, with some patients responding well and others poorly or adversely to particular drugs or drug classes. The pharmacogenomic approach allows stratification of patient populations to achieve better efficacy of treatment, while also providing opportunities for rationalization of drug trials and identification of new markets. The assessment of the role of genetic factors in drug response can be carried out at the gene, transcript or protein level. Public and private genomic sequencing and in particular, SNP determination efforts, have greatly increased the current potential of pharmacogenomics and reduced time and costs involved in the hunt for both functional genetic variants and surrogate markers.