Welcome to our Friday FOCUS on Pharmacogenetics
Each Friday we will post new and relevant information regarding Pharmacogenetics. We hope you will find this useful and pass along to colleagues. If you should have any questions regarding pharmacogenetics, please feel free to reach out to us at PGx Medical, info@pgxmed.com or 405-509-5112.
Pharmacist and Pharmacogenetics:
Pharmacists understand better then anyone the importance of proper prescribing and the risks involved if a patient is on medications their body doesn’t metabolize properly.
A pharmacist can include pharmacogenetic information in medication therapy management (MTM) programs and areas that commonly use medications affected by pharmacogenetic variations, such as, but not limited to, pain, cardio and psychiatry.
As part of the PGx Medical exclusive program, a pharmacist can identify at-risk patients, work with their physicians to manage test results, and offer ongoing medication therapy management services afterwards. The consultant pharmacist can also decipher pharmacogenetic test results to determine whether patients have the proper enzymes to metabolize their medications. This is especially important in seniors or residents living in long term care communities.
As you get older your muscles tend to decrease in size, fat increases and your metabolism begins to slow down. Age-related changes in the kidneys, liver, and other organs will influence the way many medications work. Aging can also affect the ability of the liver to break down drug compounds (metabolism). The elderly have a decrease in liver blood flow, liver size, and enzyme activity. These changes can affect the ability of the liver to break down drugs so that they are easily eliminated. Due to a decrease in liver function, it may be necessary to reduce the dose of some medications that are metabolized by the liver.
Pharmacists are well positioned to play a major role in implementing pharmacogenetic information
For more information on pharmacogenetics, contact PGx Medical at info@pgxmed.com or 405-509-5112.
source: editorsweb.org, ncbi.gov