Which medicines does pharmacogenetics affect?

Abomics’ experts maintain a database that includes over 150 pharmaceuticals that are known to be affected by genetic variation and for which a clinically significant recommendation exists. Many of these drugs are widely used. The safety and effectiveness of many antidepressants and antipsychotics is affected by pharmacogenetics.^1-2 Several drugs used for treatment of cardiovascular diseases, such as clopidogrel, atorvastatin and warfarin, are also significantly affected by pharmacogenetics.

The effectiveness of some drugs is easy to measure: if the pain isn’t relieved after taking pain medication, the drug doesn’t work. However, measuring the effectiveness of a drug isn’t always this straightforward. For example, the effectiveness of antidepressants can often be evaluated only after several weeks or even months after starting the medication. For some medications such as clopidogrel, which is commonly used to prevent ischemic stroke and heart attack, the effect can only be measured with a laboratory test. With pharmacogenetic testing the doctor knows beforehand how your genetic traits impact different medications and can anticipate whether a medication will work for you or not and how your dosage should be adjusted.

With a personalised medication approach guided by pharmacogenetics, time spent on trial-and-error optimisation can be avoided and the risk of side effects reduced.