INTRODUCTION Pharmacogenetics aims to identify the underlying genetic factors participating in the variability of drug response. Indeed, genetic variability at the DNA or RNA levels can directly or indirectly modify the pharmacokinetic or the pharmacodynamic parameters of a drug. The ultimate aim of pharmacogenetics is to move towards a personalised medicine by predicting responders and non-res...

Only a few studies have addressed the cost-effectiveness of pharmacogenetics interventions in healthcare. Lack of health economics data on aspects of pharmacogenetics is perceived as one of the barriers hindering its implementation for improving drug safety. Thus, a recent Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) study, entitled 'Pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics: state-of-the...

Genetic constitution represents an important cause for individual variations in the response and tolerance to drug treatment. Th ese variations are due to the germline mutations in genes that encode for drug-metabolizing enzymes, transporters, cellular targets and signaling pathways. Th e identifi cation of genetic variations that predict for drug response is an important step towards the trans...

The PharmGKB (http://www.pharmgkb.org/) is a pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics knowledge base built to support the representation, storage, analysis and dissemination of genotype and phenotype data. We have collected genetic sequence data from research centers in which polymorphic variations in genes of pharmacogenetic interest have been characterized in particular populations. PharmGKB als...

Physicians prescribing drugs are routinely confronted with the balance between efficacy and toxicity. Pharmacogenetics involves the study of how inheritance influences response to drugs, and its goal is to enable the appropriate selection of these individuals, thus eliminating unpredictable responses. Pharmacogenetics can be used to identify target populations that either will have minimal bene...

The approval of new medicines has slowed significantly over the past years. In order to accelerate the development of new compounds, novel approaches in drug development are required. Translational medicine or research, an emerging discipline on the frontier of basic science and medical practice, has the potential to enhance the speed and efficiency of the drug development process through the u...

This review is based on a symposium/roundtable session, sponsored by the Division of Toxicology of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, that was held at the 2002 Experimental Biology meeting in New Orleans, LA. The focus is on the role of pharmacogenomics in determining individual susceptibility to chemically induced toxicity. An individual’s risk of disease from...

Pharmacogenetics seeks to explain interpatient variability in response to medications by investigating genotype-phenotype correlations. There is a small but growing body of data regarding the pharmacogenetics of both nonexudative and exudative age-related macular degeneration. Most reported data concern polymorphisms in the complement factor H and age-related maculopathy susceptibility 2 genes....