Pharmacogenetics Will Play an Increasingly Important Role in Pharmacy Practice, Kishor Wasan Says

SASKATOON, SK, CANADA, March 17, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Genomic medicine will become more and more important in the everyday treatment of patients, opines Dr. Kishor Wasan, former Dean of the School of Pharmacy and Nutrition at the University of Saskatchewan. At the center of genomic medicine is the emerging field of pharmacogenetics.

What Is Genomic Medicine?

Genomic medicine is the diagnosis and treatment of diseases taking individual genetics into account. Genomics investigates the ways that a patient's genetic information can be used to improve the outcomes of treatment. It considers the ways that genes are activated or deactivated in the course of life experiences, and how those genes predict responses to specific treatments.

The tools of genomic medicine are already available:

Prenatal testing helps parents make informed decisions and plans for the future of their child.

Diagnostic genetic testing confirms diseases when other test results are ambiguous.

Family history informs genetic testing to determine whether individuals carry genetic diseases and whether these diseases will manifest later in their lives.

Genomic medicine helps individuals and their medical care team manage risk. Knowledge that a patient has a propensity, for example, to type 2 diabetes or breast cancer,allows the healthcare team to take steps to prevent the development of the disease. 

The emerging field of epigenetics correlates life events to the activation or deactivation of genes in ways that can predict the course of disease and recovery and explain reactions to pharmaceuticals.

Genomic medicine makes personalized treatment of disease possible. Gene testing can enable prescribers to choose the drugs to which cancer cells are most likely to respond so the patient will survive longer. Gene testing can be used to create weight-loss diets that actually work, or to tailor the dosage of analgesic medication in ways that control pain but minimize the risk of addiction.

What Is Pharmacogenomics?

Pharmacogenomics, sometimes referred to as pharmacogenetics, is the study of the ways in which genes determine an individual's responses to pharmaceuticals. As part of the new precision medicine, pharmacogenomics gives physicians and pharmacists the tools they need to choose the drugs and dosages that will produce the greatest beneficial response in patients.

Pharmacists know that the body can make enzymes that affect the way medications work. Sometimes food and exposure to environmental chemicals can make these enzymes more active or less active, changing the speed at which medications work. Pharmacists can use pharmacogenetic information to advise patients about foods and chemicals that they must avoid for their medications to be maximally effective in their bodies.

Where Are Pharmacists Trained In Genomic Medicine and Pharmacogenomics?

As an adjunct professor of pharmacy, the chief scientific officer of a drug development company, and a former dean of a school of pharmacy, Dr. Kishor Wasan is a strong advocate of the relatively new Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) curriculum for Canadian pharmacists entering the profession. 

More and more schools of pharmacy, Kishor Wasan says, are offering pharmacogenomics as a separate element of their core curriculum. All schools include training in pharmacogenomics in their course sequences in therapeutics.

Every Canadian pharmacy graduate will achieve core competencies in precision medicine, affording Canadians treatment that is more effective and, in many cases, less expensive. Pharmacogenomics is becoming a fundamental part of the practice of pharmacy.

Caroline Hunter
Web Presence, LLC
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