Pharmacogenomics Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Pharmacogenomics, including details on pharmacology, designer drugs, customized medicines.

Implications of pharmacogenomics for drug development and clinical practice.

Ginsburg GS, Konstance RP, Allsbrook JS, Schulman KA

Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Center for Genomic Medicine, Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.

Pharmacogenomics is likely to be among the first clinical applications of the Human Genome Project and is certain to have an enormous impact on the clinical practice of medicine. Herein, we discuss the potential implications of pharmacogenomics on the drug development process, including drug safety, productivity, market segmentation, market expansion, differentiation, and personalized health care. We also review 3 challenges facing the translation of pharmacogenomics into clinical practice: dependence on information technology, limited health care financing, and the scientific uncertainty surrounding validation of specific applications of the technology. To our knowledge, there is currently no formal agenda to promote and cultivate innovation, to develop progressive information technology, or to obtain the financing that would be required to advance the use of pharmacogenomic technologies in patient care. Although the potential of these technologies is driving change in the development of clinical sciences, it remains to be seen which health care systems level needs will be addressed.

Published 18 November 2005 in Arch Intern Med, 165(20): 2331-6.
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