Pharmacogenomics is defined as the study of how genetic variation affects the way your body reacts to certain drugs. Understanding how your genes interact with some drugs creates numerous possibilities to improve the treatment of medical conditions including pain, cancer, cardiac conditions, and psychiatric issues. This can help make sure that the right drugs are prescribed for you at the correct dosage to be effective.
There are 3 primary ways in which pharmacogenomics is used to improve your treatment: treating genetically inherited diseases, to reduce risks associated with taking certain drugs, and to design therapies that take into consideration your unique response to certain drugs.
For example, some patient metabolize some drugs faster that other people. This means that in passes through your system faster or slower depending on your unique collection of genes. If you metabolize a drug faster the dose needs to be increased to be effective or if you metabolize a drug slower, the dose needs to be reduced. With some drugs, it may be that they work for some patients and not for others. Good information to know.
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