Pharmacogenomics in Clinical Therapeutics

Adverse drug reactions cost over 100,000 lives in the US alone each year. Adverse drug reactions could be drastically reduced by using genetic profiling to identify those patients who have genetic variations which mean they cannot metabolise particular drugs. The old concept of medicine that "one size fits all" has been changed with many studies showing marked differences in drug metabolism and response between different individuals, race and ethnic groups. Although genetic variation in drug metabolism and drug response is not applicable to all drugs, current research has clearly established that a range of treatments such as warfarin therapy, cancer chemotherapy, immunosuppressant therapy in transplant recipients, and antiretroviral therapy for patients with AIDS, may be greatly improved through genetic profiling of individual patients before treatment begins. This book addresses the pharmacogenomic aspects of therapeutic drugs in such areas.