Drugs work differently on people. This means that not everyone will benefit from a certain medication. This is partly due to differences in their age and general health, but also because of their genes. Some people may receive beneficial effects, some may not respond to the medication, while some may experience adverse drug reactions. This is because the drugs that are currently available in the market are not customized/ “one size fits all”. This is where Pharmacogenomics play an important role.
Pharmacogenomics is the study of how a person’s genes affect the body’s response to drugs. This is a new field wherein Pharmacology (the science of drugs) and Genomics (the study of genes and their functions) are combined. This field is quite amazing because health care providers can actually evaluate an individual’s genetic profile and predict the best possible drug therapy and dose. For example, genomic tests are helping to identify cancers that have a good chance of responding to a particular medication or regimen.
This new technology will allow medicines to be uniquely crafted to maximize their therapeutic benefits and minimize their potential risks for each patient. In the not-too-distant future, patients will be tested routinely for a variety of genes that affect their response to drugs. The results should help doctors decide what and how much to prescribe, a major step forward in personalizing treatments for a range of ailments. Pharmacogenomics will bring great benefit to the medical field. Pharmacogenomics can create more powerful medicines.
Pharmaceutical companies will be capable of creating drugs based on the proteins, enzymes, and RNA molecules associated with genes and diseases. This will help to create therapies that are more focused on specific diseases. This accuracy will help decrease the damage made to nearby healthy cells. Pharmacogenomics can provide better and safer drugs for all of us. There will no longer be a need for trial and error method to match us with the right drugs. Doctors just need to analyze the genetic profile of the patient and they will be able to prescribe the best available drug therapy.
Because the right drug will be prescribed immediately to patients, the recovery time will be sped up and the possibility adverse drug reactions will be eliminated. Pharmacogenomics can also help in decreasing the overall cost of healthcare. Because there will be a decrease in cases of adverse drug reactions, failed drug trials, recovery time of patients, there will be a net decrease in the cost of health care. These are just some of the many benefits of pharmacogenomics. As it develops more, it will surely provide more benefits to people.