- James Gallagher
- BBC Health and Science correspondent
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People already have the technology to match drugs to the genetic code, thus ushering in a new era of medicine.
It is inevitable for people to take medicines when they are sick in their lives, but due to the subtle differences in each person’s body functions, some medicines may not work at all for some people, and may even be fatal.
The good news is that a major British scientific research report claims that the world already has the technology to match drugs with people’s genetic code, thereby opening a new era of medicine.
The British Pharmacological Society and the Royal College of Physicians say genetic tests can predict how effective a drug will be in your body? The test is expected to be implemented in the UK’s National Health System (NHS) next year.
Pharmacogenomics
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Personalized medicine is safer and more effective
The genetic code or DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is equivalent to an instruction manual or instruction manual for how the body works. The discipline of prescribing medicines based on DNA is called pharmacogenomics. This is the study of the role of the genome in drug response, and can be a fine tool for guiding routine medication.
The new medical treatment is sure to help Ms Burns in Liverpool, who lost two-thirds of her skin at the time due to a severe allergic reaction to a seizure medication.
Ms Pence was taking carbamazepine when she was 19, and 2 weeks later she started developing a rash. When she developed a high fever and hallucinations, her parents took her to the emergency room.
Jane told the BBC that the next day she started to have skin breakage.
“I remember waking up with blisters all over my body, like in a horror movie. I felt like I was on fire,” she said.
Jane’s epilepsy medication caused her to develop Stevens-Johnson syndrome, an allergic phenomenon that causes skin damage and is more likely to occur in people who are born with a specific mutation in the genetic code body.
“She was very, very lucky,” Ms Pence said. She said she supports pharmacogenomics testing.
“If it can save your life, that’s definitely a good thing,” she said.
affects almost everyone
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Because we are all different individuals, each of us responds differently to drugs, experts say.
Jane’s experience may sound rare, but Professor Caulfield, the past president of the British Pharmacological Society, said that 99.5% of people will have at least one change in their genome, which means that if you hit the wrong drug, it will either not work; or will actually cause harm.
- For example, over 5 million people in the UK do not get any pain relief from codeine medicines. Because there is no instruction in these people’s genetic code to make the enzyme that breaks down codeine into morphine, without it the drug would have no effect.
- As another example, one in 500 people who take the antibiotic gentamicin carries a genetic code that may put them at a higher risk of hearing loss.
In fact, pharmacogenomics has been used for some drugs. In the past, 5-7% of people would have had an adverse reaction to the HIV treatment abacavir, and some even died.
But having a DNA test before prescribing them means that risk is now zero.
Scientists studying the 100 most commonly prescribed medicines in the UK say we now have genetic testing to guide the use of 40 of them.
The genetic testing analysis will cost around £100 (about 900 yuan) and can be done using a blood or saliva sample.
The original idea was to get tested before prescribing the 40 drugs. And in the long run, it’s better to be able to test ahead of time – if genetic testing of newborns is available, it’s likely to be done from birth, or as part of a routine check-up over the age of 50.
Essence treatment
Professor Pier Mohammed, from the University of Liverpool, said there was a need to move away from a “one-size-fits-all” approach to medicine, in favour of more personalised medicine, delivering the right medicine and the right dose to each patient to improve the effectiveness and safety of medicines.
“What we’re doing is really entering a new era of medicine because we’re all different individuals, and each of us responds differently to drugs,” he said.
Professor Pierre Mohammad also said that as you age and take more and more prescription drugs, by the age of 70 you have a 70% chance of encountering at least one drug that is affected by your genetic makeup.
NHS England chairman Lord David Prior said it would revolutionise medicine.
“Pharmacogenomics is the future, and it can now help provide us with a modern, new, personalized health care system fit for 2022,” he said.
