Jayden Lee, PharmD & Zachary S. Brooks, PhD
A New Way to Get Medications: Next Generation Sequencing for You. How do you currently get your medications? You see a doctor who diagnoses you, then receive a prescription. Your pharmacist performs a second check to ensure you are receiving the appropriate drug. But things still go wrong. Why? Because each of us differs. Pharmacogenomics (PGx) can provide personalized information to help inform medication selection with the use of next generation sequencing (NGS). Individual reactions to medications, metabolic variations, and a shift from “reaction” to “action” in drug selection all contribute to improved treatment outcomes for you.
Differences in drug reactions influenced by genetics. We react to every medication we take. The question is a matter of how much and whether those reactions are positive or negative. The process by which drugs are processed in the body is known as ADME: absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (Crowley, 2023). During absorption, the drug travels to the bloodstream and distribution determines the delivery of the drug to its targets. Metabolism occurs mostly in the liver, where individual differences in medication effectiveness may take shape. Excretion is the elimination of the drug from the body.
Predicting drug response with next generation sequencing. PGx variants play key roles in drug metabolism and responses (Rajman et al. 2017). NGS has led to the identification of a number of these variants. With the vast amount of data generated by NGS, researchers and clinicians can now predict drug responses more accurately, distinguishing those variants that have significant clinical implications. Integrating NGS data into healthcare systems is crucial for making personalized medicine accessible and effective.
One size does not fit all. The shift from a “reaction”-based approach to prescribing to an “action”-based approach could transform treatment paradigms as we know it. In other words, rather than adjusting medications through trial and error, prescribers can use actionable genetic insights to guide drug selection. This approach not only maximizes therapeutic efficacy but also minimizes the risk of adverse drug reactions. In practice, NGS can potentially facilitate the implementation of PGx testing in clinical settings, making it a cornerstone of personalized healthcare strategies (Bielinski et al. 2020).
Learn more about UGenome’s Personalized Medication Service, ProPEx, or contact UGenome. You can also find case studies for UGenome’s bioinformatics services Metabolite Identification, Bone Metastasis Risk Analysis in Breast Cancer, Survival Analysis with gene signatures in cancer
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