Pharmacogenetic testing and research

Athough MEBO Research does not intend to start pharmacogenetic testing at the present time, it is noteworthy how significant a person’s ability to metabolize medication is in order to obtain the desired therapeutic effect intended by the physician. Pharmaceutical companies have been concerned with this concept, as noted in the AmpliChip CYP450 Test from the pharmaceutical company, Roche. This test is the world’s first microarray-based parmacogenomic test cleared for clinical use. According to Roche,

The AmpliChip CYP450 Test provides comprehensive detection of gene variations — including deletions and duplications — for the CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 genes, which play a major role in the metabolism of an estimated 25% of all prescription drugs. It is intended to be an aid to clinicians in determining therapeutic strategy and treatment dose for therapeutics metabolized by the CYP2D6 or CYP2C19 gene product. http://www.roche.com/products/product-details.htm?type=product&id=17

It would be interesting to look into the possibility of carrying out genetic research sometime in the future to find specific gene types that determine how medicines are metabolized in sufferers of body odor and halitosis conditions in comparison to a non-sufferer control group. Perhaps this would be of mutual interest to both, pharmaceutical companies and sufferers, especially those whose physician wants to prescribe psychiatric medication or are taking other medications for other medical conditions. Perhaps MEBO might be able to tap into pharmaceutical company funding for such a study within the next couple of years.

This explosion of biologic information about the proteins and pathways relevant to cellular physiology and disease has stimulated biotechnology and pharmaceutical researchers to assign top priority to identification and validation of key targets (known or novel) to develop therapies for the many remaining diseases. Hypothesis-based biological research is now supplemented with multidisciplinary approaches to systems and circuit-based biology that integrate bioinformatics, genomic databases, and cellular and molecular biology with the traditional drug discovery disciplines of physiological biochemistry, pharmacology, and medicinal chemistry. As a consequence, interventional strategies now include recombinant proteins, monoclonal antibodies, peptides, and small organic molecules as drug candidates. The goal is to expedite the testing of novel therapeutic hypotheses in humans and to develop strategies to identify optimal therapy for individual patients. http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/285/5/551.full

Additional information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AmpliChip_CYP450_Test


María de la Torre
Founder and Executive Director

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