Pharmacogenetics-based therapeutic recommendations - ready for clinical practice?

• Published in: Nature reviews. Drug discovery Vol. 4; no. 8; pp. 639 - 647
• Main Authors: Kirchheiner, Julia, Fuhr, Uwe, Brockmöller, Jürgen
• Format: Journal Article Book Review
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 01.08.2005
• Subjects: Clinical trials; Clinical Trials as Topic - classification; Clinical Trials as Topic - methods; Drug Industry - methods; Drug Industry - trends; Drug Therapy - methods; Drug Therapy - trends; Drugs; Genetic polymorphisms; Humans; Management; Pharmacogenetics; Pharmacogenetics - methods; Pharmacogenetics - trends; Physiological aspects; Practice Patterns, Physicians' - trends; Product development; Terminology as Topic; United States
• ISSN: 1474-1776; 1474-1784
• DOI: 10.1038/nrd1801

Although considerable progress has been made in basic pharmacogenetic research, less has been demonstrated in the application of pharmacogenetics (PGx)-based diagnostics to drug development and in clinical practice. There are drugs that are currently used in the clinic for which individualized therapy could be beneficial based on PGx data. However, specific, actionable recommendations on how to implement individualized therapy--particularly with respect to dosage--still have to be developed. Moreover, to apply PGx efficiently in clinical drug development, and later in drug therapy, study designs and the generation and handling of PGx data need to become more standardized. Here, we argue for the development of concise guidelines for implementation of PGx analyses in drug development and therapy.