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Pharmacogenomics
Pharmacogenetics is based on the understanding that all drugs are taken through several biochemical pathways to break them down after they are administered. The body needs to eliminate these drugs and does it by breaking them down through biochemical pathways. These pathways are explicitly outlined in the PDR for each and every pharmaceutical drug that is made. In fact, it is by law that pharmaceutical companies must pronounce the biochemical pathways through which their new drugs are broken down by our body.
These biochemical pathways to breakdown drugs are created by our genes. Remember that our genes direct the making of the proteins that make the enzymes that break down chemicals and toxins in our body. But some of us have “mutations” which we call Polymorphisms (SNP’s) which either do not allow us to break down the drug or which break down the drug too fast, so it becomes less effective.
For people that cannot biochemically break down the drugs in a normal fashion the levels in their blood get very high and that contributes to bad side effects and even allergic reactions.
We now have companies that can analyze your DNA and see which of your biochemical pathways may be impaired, because you have a genetic polymorphism. They then cross-reference this with all the drugs that require that pathway to break them down.
The laboratories give us a beautiful spreadsheet-like chart that shows us which drugs your body is programmed to be able to break down in the normal fashion and which drugs you will not be able to break down in the normal fashion.
The companies do this for all categories of drugs including high blood pressure drugs, gastrointestinal drugs, urological drugs and even psychotropics and anti-anxiety drugs.
Test your DNA for a selection of key genes to help you truly understand your genetic response to your prescriptions:
• Cardiovascular Medication
• Pain Medication
• Psychiatric Medication
You can order your NextGen Pharmacogenomics test here!
Please visit and Join the WeHeal Pharmacogenomics Community
WeHeal is very grateful to our valued sources of information which include Wikipedia, WebMD, ClinicalTrials.gov, Cancer.gov, Infoplease, and the US CDC (Center for Disease Control).