Pharmacogenetic Testing
Understand How Your Genes Affect Your Response to Medications
Find Reliable, Fast Pharmacogenetic Testing
Your health is critical to your quality of life, which means it’s important to be as educated and informed about what’s going on inside your body as possible. This includes how your body breaks down and metabolizes drugs. Since every person’s genetic makeup is so different, testing is needed to identify how you respond to certain medications to help ensure that you are prescribed medications that will optimize your health, rather than harm it.
Our team at Next Genomics Laboratories offers pharmacogenetic testing to help you determine whether the medications you’re currently taking are the right ones for you. Reach out to our team in Atlanta to learn more or request your test today!
Benefits of Pharmacogenomics
Pharmacogenomics is the study of how a person’s genetic makeup affects that individual’s response to medications. In doing this, it aims to develop a strategy to optimize drug therapies. Data, with respect to a patient’s genotype, is used to try and maximize drug efficacy while minimizing adverse drug effects and drug to drug interactions.
Pharmacogenomics offers many benefits for patients and healthcare providers alike, including:
- Maximizing the intended use of medications or treatments
- Reducing drug reactions
- Decreasing side effects or drug dependencies
- Helping to identify more affordable options for patients
- Reducing number of ER visits and length of hospital stays
- Finding drugs that are most effective for each patient’s condition
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What to Expect During a Pharmacogenetic Test
A pharmacogenetic test is generally carried out on blood or saliva. During a blood test, a medical professional will take a blood sample from the vein in the patient’s arm using a needle. After the needle is inserted into the arm, blood will be collected using a vile or test tube, which generally takes less than five minutes. Typically, you don’t need to do anything to prepare for the blood test, but if you are taking a saliva test, be sure to avoid eating, drinking, or smoking for 30 minutes prior to the test. Reach out to our team at Next Genomics Laboratories for specific instructions on how to prepare for your test.
Why do I need this test?
Each person’s body contains thousands of genes that we’ve inherited from our parents. These determine which characteristics we have, including hair color, eye color, blood type, etc. Some genes also determine how your body responds to and breaks down medications, which can determine things such as effectiveness, side effects, and more. Pharmacogenetic testing is used to look for variants or changes in your genes that may indicate whether specific medications could be effective for you, or whether they might cause side effects and adverse reactions.
Genetic testing has potential benefits whether the results are positive or negative for a gene mutation. Test results can provide a sense of relief from uncertainty and help people make informed decisions about managing their health care. For example, a negative result can eliminate the need for unnecessary checkups and screening tests in some cases. A positive result can direct a person toward available prevention, monitoring, and treatment options. Some test results can also help people make decisions about having children. Test results generally take between 5-7 business days after your sample has been received by the lab.
Limitations to Pharmacogenomic Testing
These tests do have certain limitations, including:
A single test is unable to determine how your body will respond to all medications. If you are taking multiple medications, you will likely need to take multiple tests.
The tests are not available for every single medication.
There are no pharmacogenomic tests for many over-the-counter pain relievers
Why choose us?
- Individual genetic variations greatly impact an individual’s response to therapeutic drugs. It is predicted that more than 20% of patients being treated with a particular drug are poor responders. Traditional standard approaches of “trial and error” and “one-size and one dose fits all” contribute to 25-50% of drug toxicity and therapeutic failures. Testing for genetic variations can predict individual patient response to particular therapeutic regimens. It provides powerful information that allows physicians to make an informed decision when prescribing a drug to their patient.
- At Next Genomix, we have one of the most comprehensive panels of pharmacogenomics tests with clinical utility in areas including pain, cardiovascular disease, thrombophilia, cancer and Psychiatry/ADHD. These tests allow physicians to personalize treatment regimens for individual patients.
- Patients and physicians can choose either our comprehensive personalized medical panel which detects over 100 clinically significant genetic variants from over 20 drug-metabolizing enzymes. Medications compatible with Pharmacogenetic testing:
Personalized Care for Your Needs
Everyone’s genes are different, and understanding yours can help you make decisions about your health that could impact many factors within your life. As you become more aware of the way your genes function and the way they break down or react to certain medications, you can learn more about which treatment options may be right for you. Our team wants to help get you on the path to finding the healthiest, most effective medications and treatment plans available to you.