72 percent of heart drugs are impacted by genetics, study finds

The evidence for expanded use of pharmacogenetic data to help inform heart medication prescribing just got stronger. A comprehensive review of the scientific literature on pharmacogenomics and heart medications found that 71.8 percent of the 71 drugs studied had positive evidence for varied response or adverse effects based on genetics. The review encompassed 597 publications and identified 884 unique pairings … Read More

Study strengthens link between gene variants and bleeding risk in warfarin patients

New research offers more evidence for the connection between CYP2C9 and VKORC1 variants and increased bleeding risk in patients taking warfarin. A large-scale study published in the March edition of the Lancet found that atrial fibrillation patients whose CYP2C9 and VKORC1 genetic variations made them highly sensitive to warfarin were nearly three times more likely to experience bleeding than those … Read More

Study shows 50% drop in serious bleeding with DNA-guided warfarin treatment

A new meta-analysis of clinical trials scrutinizing warfarin dosing methods found that warfarin treatment guided by individual genotypes reduced instances of serious bleeding by more than half compared to standard dosing approaches. The work lends support to the importance of genetic testing for the genes CYP2C9 and VKORC1, variations of which can influence warfarin’s therapeutic effect. In August 2007, the U.S. … Read More