Pharmacogenomics program personalizes drug prescribing

Episode # 111
Uploaded: October 3, 2012
Running Time: 2:15

CROWN: From the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, this is CLINICAL CENTER RADIO.

When it comes to medications, one size doesn't fit all. That's why an emerging field of pharmacogenomics is becoming so important in medicine and research. Pharmacogenomics uses information about a person's genetics to choose drugs and drug dosages that are likely to work best for that individual. The Clinical Center recently started a formal pharmacogenomics testing program that will focus initially on three medications, including abacavir, allopurinol, and carbamazepine. The Department of Transfusion Medicine is able to test for the human leukocyte antigen, or HLA, gene variations that may predict severe reactions to these medications, such as fever, hypotension, skin rash, and even other more severe conditions such as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. Dr. Juan Lertora, the Clinical Center's director of Clinical Pharmacology:

LERTORA: These are fortunately rare reactions. But if they occur, they can be life-threatening.

CROWN: Now HLA sequence testing is required prior to starting abacavir, and strongly recommended for patients initiating allopurinol or carbamazepine treatment, says Dr. William Figg, chief of the Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology Section, National Cancer Institute.

FIGG: We're trying to look at your genetics to make sure you don't have a significant complication to the drug.

CROWN: In the future, the Clinical Center's program will likely expand to include more medications. Adds Deputy Chief of the Clinical Center's Pharmacy Department Dr. Barry Goldspiel:

GOLDSPIEL: To me, pharmacogenomics and pharmacogenetics is just another piece of the puzzle to make sure the patient gets the right drug and the right dose of that drug.

CROWN: From America's Clinical Research Hospital, this has been CLINICAL CENTER RADIO. In Bethesda, Maryland, I'm Ellen Crown, at the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

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