What is pharmacogenomics?

Pharmacogenomics is the special branch of pharmacology that involves genetic variation influence on drug.  Pharmacogenomics generally develops the important means to optimize drug therapy. Whole genome application of pharmacogenetics is from these Pharmacogenomics. Thus it examines the single gene interactions with drugs. Pharmacogenomics can also be referred to as the study about an individual's genetic inheritance will affect the body's response to drugs. The term Pharmacogenomics is a combination of the words pharmacology and genomics. It is also the intersection of pharmaceuticals and genetics. The traditional pharmaceutical sciences like biochemistry with annotated knowledge of genes, proteins, and single nucleotide polymorphisms are combined in the Pharmacogenomics.

The method by which an individual responds to a drug is a complex process influenced by various different genes. Pharmacogenomics is examines the variations of genes that mentions drug response. Knowing about the genetic variations of a patient would help to determine the individualizing of drug therapy and decrease adverse drug effects while increasing the effectiveness of drugs. As discussed above Pharmacogenomics combines the traditional pharmaceutical sciences like the biochemistry along with the detailed understanding of common DNA variations in the human genome. The most popular human genome variations are called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). There is 11 million SNPs in the human population and it incorporates average of one every 1,300 base pairs.  Each person’s response to a drug is linked to such type of common DNA variations. Now, pharmacogenomics focuses on genes encoding which alters drug's activity metabolic enzymes and create disease prone defective structural proteins.

Anticipated benefits of pharmacogenomics

Pharmacogenomics provides the drug therapy with many effectiveness and side effects when variation is determined genetically.  Thus the benefits of Pharmacogenomics include:

1. More Powerful Medicines
   Pharmaceutical companies are capable of producing drugs to specified diseases. These may be based on the RNA molecules, proteins and enzymes relates to genes and diseases. By this, the accuracy would maximize therapeutic effects and decreases damage to the healthy cells. 

2. Better, Safer Drugs the First Time
   In Pharmacogenomics, doctors by studying the patient's genetic profile would prescribe the best drug therapy initially. This would replace the common trial-and-error method of trying various drugs on patients. This would speed the recovery time and increases safety. Pharmacogenomics reduces the deaths and hospitalizations.  
3. Methods of Determining Appropriate Drug Dosages

Basing dosages on weight and age can be replaced by dosages based on a person's genetics. This determines the processing of the medicines and the metabolizing time. This maximizes the therapy's value by decreasing overdoses.

4. Advanced Screening for Disease

To make adequate lifestyle you should know the genetic code and environmental to avoid severity of a genetic disease. Early knowledge and careful monitoring would reduce the disease effect and treatments done appropriately maximize their therapy.

5. Better Vaccines

Vaccines made of genetic material, like the DNA or RNA provides more benefits. The immune system would be activated.

Applications of pharmacogenomics

Pharmacogenomics provides various practical applications in cancer, depression, cardiovascular disease and drug metabolism. Now let us have a brief look at some of these applications of pharmacogenomics:

• Cancer pharmacogenomics

Pharmacogenomics is important for cancer therapies. Genetic polymorphisms in drug metabolizing enzymes are responsible for toxicity of chemotherapy agents. Thus gene polymorphisms have shown tremendous benefit in cancer pharmacogenomics. The power and utility of the mouse as an experimental system for pharmacogenomic discovery will also be discussed in the context of cancer therapy.

• Pharmacogenomics study of stating therapy and cholesterol reduction

This application of Pharmacogenomics evaluates genetic variation influences systematically which are response to pravastatin therapy.

• Role of pharmacogenomics in individualizing treatment with SSRIs

The introduction of the SSRIs has benefited many individuals affected by panic disorder, depression, social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Thus use of Pharmacogenomics has increased the level of efficacy.

• Cardiovascular pharmacogenomics

Cardiovascular pharmacogenomics guides cardiovascular drug development.  Principles of pharmacogenomics in drug metabolism have benefited the drug development and clinical use.

• Pharmacogenomics — Drug disposition, drug targets, and side effects

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms that were identified in the human genome initial sequencing have helped in the coding region of genes. These coding changes in the metabolism are used to predict clinical response in pharmacogenomics applications.