by brant bullard | Jul 6, 2015 | Metabolic Validation Program
PGx Medical provides test results that provide clinicians with valuable patient-specific information to make better therapeutic treatment decisions.
Pharmacogenetics uses information about a person’s genetic makeup, or genome, to choose drugs and drug doses that are likely to work best for that particular person.
What causes so much variablity in drug response among individuals?
Much of the variation in drug response is a result of genetic differences and drug interactions in addition to environmental factors such as diet and lifestyle.
How do genomic differences cause this variablity?
Research shows that genes of the cytochrome P450 family directly correlate with how individuals metabolize many common psychiatric medications. If a clinician knows ahead of time tht a resident would metabolize certain drugs too quickly (UM) or slowly (PM), they can make more informed medication decisions and reduce the likelihood of side effects and medication failures.
How does PGx help a clinician with medication management?
PGx Medical provides the clinician with a personalized report indicating which medications may be more or less appropriate based on the individuals metabolic profile.
Which genes are analyzed?
We analyze multiple genes of the cytochrome P450 family linked to a person’s metabolic capabilities for many medication categories. In addition to cytochrome P450, we analyze 19 genes associated with medication response.
Which medications are included in the reports?
Over 100 of the most commonly prescribed, FDA-approved medications in the following categories:
Behavioral Health: Antidepressants, anti-anxieties, and anti-psychotics
Pain: Analgesic medications
Cardiovascular: Cardio and anti-coagulants
Is it affordable?
Medicare B covers 100% of the testing cost and PGx Medical does not balance bill. We also have medicaid coverage in many states. In addition, many commercial insurance plans reimburse for the testing.
How do I get more information on the PGx Medical Metabolic Validation program?
Contact one of our consultants across the country.
Call: 405-509-5112
Email: info@pgxmed.com
RIGHT DRUG, RIGHT DOSE, RIGHT PERSON
by brant bullard | May 20, 2015 | Metabolic Validation Program
A Pharmacy Consultant Case Study on the Utilization of Metabolic Validation
Garrett Huxall, Pharm.D, CGP, FASCP
Executive Director, PharmCareOK
As a pharmacy consultant with over 20 years of experience and now nursing home owner, I understand that medications and their side effects can critically impact a patients’ care. To aid physicians in their management and choice of medications for various disease states, I have been utilizing a metabolic validation program that allows me to recommend proper medication therapy more quickly and accurately. The tool from PGx Medical replaces the “trial and error” process consultants cannot afford in a nursing home setting.
I have numerous stories on how a metabolic validation report impacted my dosage recommendation or regimen changes. However, small adjustments in dosage or selection of a new pharmaceutical agent with guidance from the Metabolic Validation report, have lead me to now select medications that can be properly metabolized. Where in the past, I would have just gone to the next drug and hoped for a better outcome.
Below is the second in a series of case studies I have written:
Case Study #2 – [Male patient, multiple med, pain regimen not providing therapy] This patient was on Loritab, asprin and an NSAID for several months. Patient continued to complain of strong pain and medication dosages were increased with no effectiveness in pain reduction. Upon requesting a metabolic validation diagnostic, patients was placed on Dilaudid . Once we reviewed the test results, we were able to lower his dose of Dilaudid, twice daily while continuing with Asprin. Before the test he was taking loratab, asprin and an NSAID. We reduced the patients’ pain medications by 50% and he is doing much better.
In reducing the medications by 50% we are also helping to eliminate many of the complications often associated with heavy dosages and large regimens of pain medications. And reduce the cost of treatment to Medicare for this patient.
Previously, without the testing results to guide us, this change may have taken several different methods and a longer time frame to achieve results. It was very reassuring and validating to me that we were able to intervene with this resident on a much quicker basis and help him avoid falls, which is a benefit to the clinical team and the medical director.
Educating the clinical team and medical directors at the facility on the value this tool provides is crucial, as it is 100% covered by Medicare. It’s important to reassure residents and family members that the medications they are taking are the most appropriate and able to provide proper therapy. A less medicated, cognizant, mobile resident allows for the home to be more efficient and profitable.
For more information on the metabolic validation program, info@pgxmed.com or 405-509-5112
by brant bullard | Apr 6, 2015 | Metabolic Validation Program
The battle, known as polypharmacy, is estimated to cause the death of 100,000 older adults each year.
Polypharmacy may be defined as the number of medications (eg, using a large number of different medications prescribed by different providers), the necessity of the medications that are prescribed, or the complexity of a patient’s problems. Whatever the definition, polypharmacy is an important issue in elderly patients. Sometimes this issue cannot be helped, but many times polypharmacy occurs simply because healthcare providers fail to communicate proper patient recommendations to the patient’s primary care provider.
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by brant bullard | Nov 3, 2014 | Metabolic Validation Program
At PGx Medical, our goal is to educate healthcare professionals across the country on our Metabolic Validation (pharmacogenomics) test.
Metabolic Validation is a way to “personalize” medicine. Personalized medicine isn’t a fad, it has been around for over a decade. But it is now coming to the forefront of the healthcare industry.
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by brant bullard | Sep 29, 2014 | Metabolic Validation Program, News
Physicians have long relied on a range of resources—including medical literature, their own research and experience, and pure gut feelings to treat patients. But that one-size-fits all approach doesn’t take into account a patients unique characteristics.
With personalized medicine available now, patients can receive individualized care according to their own genomic make-up.
Medicine as we know it revolves around “standards of care,” the best courses of treatment for the general population.
A growing number of healthcare clinicians are calling for a more personalized approach tailoring medicine to fit each individual; Right Drug, Right Dose, Right Person.
It is important to remember that genes can provide information that can lead us to make more informed decisions about our healthcare and medication therapy.
Education is the key. Consider patient’s with depression, 38 percent of whom do not respond to the first drug they are prescribed. With personalized medicine, or metabolic validation testing, healthcare professonals don’t have to prescribe medications on a “trial-and-error” basis. They will be provided a guide for dosing depending on that individuals genetic makeup.
“One day, patients will say, ‘I’m not an average patient. I am who I am. You need to understand who I am before you prescribe whatever treatment you plan to prescribe,'” says Edward Abrahams, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Personalized Medicine Coalition.
Personalized Medicine is changing the world of healthcare.
For more information on Metabolic Validation testing (Pharmacogenomics), contact:
PGx Medical
Individualized Care – Personalized Medicine
info@pgxmed.com
405-509-5112
by brant bullard | Aug 21, 2014 | Metabolic Validation Program, News
Genes play an important role in determining the right drug, right dose for the right person.
A treatment or dosage that works for one individual may not work, or may cause severe side effects for another. Pharmacogencomics provides healthcare professionals with a tool that will allow them to “personalize” medicine for each individual patient. Reducing hospital visits, adverse drug reactions and unnecessary medications.
At PGx Medical, our Metabolic Validation tests (pharmacogenomics) will help:
- Decrease adverse drug events: More than 770,000 injuries and deaths every year are caused by adverse drug events.
- Cost-Saving: Pharmacogenomics helps reduce the overall cost for experimenting with drugs “trial-and-error” and adverse drug events cost up to $35 billion annually in hospital admissions.
- Trial and Error: You can now have more accurate information on what an individual can metabolize so you can avoid the “trial-and-error” process that cost money and delays recovery. Pharmacogenomics will help patients/residents live a better quality of life.
If your pharmacy, clinic or home is interested in pharmacogenomic testing, contact us at: info@pgxmed.com or call 405-509-5112.
PGx Medical
Individualized Care / Personalized Medicine
www.pgxmed.com
