As you know, all patients are unique. So why shouldn’t their drugs be as well? As advances continue in pharmacogenomics, the use of genetic information to predict an individual’s response to a drug, pharmacists will play a vital role in this personalized health care model.
The all-encompassing objective of pharmacogenomics is to create more effective treatments for patients by getting rid of a one-size-fits-all model and developing more personalized health care. Using genetic data for more patient-specific care can help patients by reducing the risk of unfavorable effects of drugs, creating personalized drug therapy and establishing more efficient and cost-effective drug development.
While this cutting edge health care model aims to improve outcomes for patients, it’s not a perfect system. If pharmacists aren’t included in this paradigm, then genetics-based health care can’t achieve its full potential. Adding genetic information to clinical practice will increase the need for pharmacist-provided services. As experts on drugs, pharmacists will need to work with patients through medication therapy management (MTM), a regimen to optimize therapeutic outcomes for patients. Without MTM service, which reviews patients’ medications, checks to make sure the medicines are working, manages dosages, and ensures that the patient is complying with the set therapy, the overall goal for genetics-based health care—to achieve best outcomes for patients—can’t be accomplished.
Why pharmacists are vital to this mission:
- In the future pharmacogenomic data can be applied to clinical practice through MTM. Because pharmacists already provide MTM services, they will be fundamental in helping to achieve this integration.
- Pharmacists’ expertise of drug interactions and drug metabolism, while already important to treating patients, will be even more critical when adding detailed genetic information to the mix.
- Pharmacists already collaborate with physicians to improve overall care and treatment of patients. With phamacogenomic data, teamwork among all of a patient’s health care providers will be even more essential to achieve best outcomes.
In 2006, the Department of Health and Human Services created the Personalized Health Care Initiative, a program designed to build the foundation for genetics-based health care. Since then the FDA has worked to incorporate pharmacogenomic data into drug development, labeling and approval processes. And this is just the beginning.
Although the path is unclear, the goals for pharmacogenomics include:
- Establishing a nation-wide system of electronic health records.
- The use of genetic information in drug development and in clinical practice.
- Improved understanding of the relationships between genetics and drug metabolism. And how disease, lifestyle and environment play a part as well.
- Reducing health care costs for patients.
- Advancing health information technology solutions.
Throughout history, pharmacists have been leaders in the healthcare industry. They will continue to play a vital role as the industry moves forward.
Source: “Integrating pharmacogenomics into pharmacy practice via medication therapy management.” The Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, November/December 2011
