Testing Gene Markers Gives Insight on Patient Drug Response

In this video, Bruce Kneeland, PharmD, explains what pharmacogenomics are and how they help pharmacists optimize patient therapy. Pharmacogenomics is typically applied to mental health medications, such as anti-depressants.

Bruce Kneeland, PharmD

Under the subject of point of care testing, one of the things that I run across that is most appealing to me, it's really a reasonably new idea to me, it's something I've only heard of the last year, is pharmacogenetic testing. I'm not sure I said that correctly, but it's reasonably close. It's the ability for a pharmacy to do a point-of-care test, again a simple throat swab, running it through a device, and help determine genetic markers that will help prescribers and providers determine more appropriate therapy for a particular patient. One of the most cutting edge applications of this happens to be with antidepressant and mental health medications, where they can tell rather quickly whether or not the medication you're on is going to be absorbed properly, so that you'll get the maximum benefit of the medication.