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Pharmacogenomics in clinical practice and drug development

Nature Biotechnology volume 30, pages 1117–1124 (2012)Cite this article

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A Corrigendum to this article was published on 07 December 2012

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Abstract

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of responses to drugs, including clopidogrel, pegylated-interferon and carbamazepine, have led to the identification of specific patient subgroups that benefit from therapy. However, the identification and replication of common sequence variants that are associated with either efficacy or safety for most prescription medications at odds ratios (ORs) >3.0 (equivalent to >300% increased efficacy or safety) has yet to be translated to clinical practice. Although some of the studies have been completed, the results have not been incorporated into therapy, and a large number of commonly used medications have not been subject to proper pharmacogenomic analysis. Adoption of GWAS, exome or whole genome sequencing by drug development and treatment programs is the most striking near-term opportunity for improving the drug candidate pipeline and boosting the efficacy of medications already in use.

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Figure 1: Assembling cohorts for drug-response GWAS.
Figure 2: Current and future strategies for treatment with TNF-α blockers.

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  • 07 December 2012

    In the version of this article initially published online and in print, the funders were not acknowledged. The funding statement should have read 'EJT was funded by NIH/NCATS TR000109'. The errors have been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

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Acknowledgements

E.J.T. was funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences TR000109.

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  1. Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Andrew R Harper

  2. Scripps Translational Science Institute, The Scripps Research Institute and Scripps Health, La Jolla, California, USA

    Andrew R Harper & Eric J Topol

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E.J.T. is a consultant for Quest Diagnostics.

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Harper, A., Topol, E. Pharmacogenomics in clinical practice and drug development. Nat Biotechnol 30, 1117–1124 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.2424

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