by brant bullard | Aug 11, 2014 | Metabolic Validation Program
Personalized medicine will allow physicians to deliver health care based on a person’s genotype.
An individual’s genetics can suggest optimal dosing levels as well as cause some medications to be more or less effective. In some cases it may also cause adverse drug reactions leading to personal harm.
Metabolic Validation testing helps in determining which medications are optimal for a person based on his or her genetics.
With a simple buccal swab, healthcare professionals will receive a validation report to help guide medication treatment based on that person’s individual genetics.
Right Drug, Right Dose, Right Person
For more information:
PGx Medical
Individulaized Care – Personalized Medicine
info@pgxmed.com
405-509-5112
by brant bullard | Aug 1, 2014 | Metabolic Validation Program
Recently PGx Medical surveyed pharmacists across the country regarding Metabolic Validation. Below are a few responses.
93% of pharmacists said they think it is important to alert Medical Directors and DONs to residents that are currently on medication that have a BLACK BOX WARNING (Plavix, Codeine, Psych, Anti Depressants, etc) and that Metabolic Validation (pharmacogenomics) should be a part of a Pharmacy Consultant role.
An alarming 85.71% said their facility has never implemented a Metabolic Validation program for medication reduction or appropriate medication diagnosis.
42.86% pharmacists surveyed said 80% of the recommended med changes from Pharmacy Consultants are agreed to or implemented by the Medical Directors on average nationwide. 57.14% responded 50% or less med changes were agreed or implemented.
When asked the question: What percentage of residents in LTC facilities would you estimate might be currently taking meds, or enter the facility as a new resident on meds that they are not metabolizing properly, or could be eliminated without significant changes to their quality of life?40% of Pharmacists said 30% and higher.
67% agree that the Pharmacy Consultant should have the most influence in determining medicine regiment changes and appropriate med reductions for existing LTC facility residents.
PGx Medical would like to thank all the Pharmacists who took time to answer our survey. Your input is vital to what we do and we appreciate your feedback.
At PGx Medical we take our job very seriously. Our role as consultants is to help the healthcare community determine the right drug, right dose, for the right person. Through our unique tool “Metabolic Validation Testing” we strive to make it easy for healthcare professionals to incorporate personalized medicine into their patient care.
- Reduce side effects
- Increase clinical response
- Pinpoint appropriate medications for specific diagnosis
For more information on Metabolic Validation Testing and how you can incorporate it into your home, pharmacy or clinic, call 405-509-5112 or email: info@pgxmed.com. Our PGx Medical Team will be happy to assist you.
The PGx Medical Metabolic Validation program is available at no cost to the facility or residents with Medicare Part B and Medicaid (in select states).
PGx Medical
Individualized Care, Personalized Medicine
405-509-5112
Info@pgxmed.com
by brant bullard | Jun 30, 2014 | Metabolic Validation Program
To become a PGx Medical Certified Metabolic Validation Home, you must…
1) Be educated on the PGx Metabolic Validation tool by one of our team members.
2) Test current eligible residents.
3) Utilize test results with your residents and healthcare team.
4) Continue testing new residents as they are admitted.
5) For Oklahoma homes: A quarterly report will be sent to the OK State Surveyors of all PGx Medical Certified Homes.
6) Your home will receive a certificate to be displayed as a PGx Medical Metabolic Validation Home.
7) Homes will be certified annually
If you are not currently testing and would like more information on how to become a PGx Medical Certified Metabolic Validation Home, let us know. Our team will walk you through the process and be available as a continued resource to answer any questions you might have.
PGx Medical will provide your home with the necessary tools to help in the reduction of unnecessary medications, which in turn, will provide your residents with a better quality of life. Right drug, Right dose, Right person.
For more information or to become a Certifed Home, contact:
PGx Medical
Individualized Care – Personalized Medicine
info@pgxmed.com
405-509-5112
www.pgxmed.com
by brant bullard | Jun 27, 2014 | Metabolic Validation Program
PGx President, Clay Bullard
If you attended the June 12th Oklahoma State Department of Health Provider Training in Tulsa, you heard PGx Medical President, Clay Bullard speak on Metabolic Validation. Clay will also be speaking at the July 22nd Provider Training meeting in Midwest City, OK.
Don’t get left behind
“Approximately 40% of the homes that attended the Provider Training in Tulsa are currently testing with PGx Medical and many more have contacted us to learn more about Metabolic Validation,” said Bullard.
PGx Medical is a team of healthcare consultants who will provide your home with the necessary tools to help in the reduction of unnecessary medications, which in turn, will provide your residents with a better quality of life.
Right Drug, Right Dose, Right Resident
If you are not currently testing and would like more information on how to become a PGx Certified Metabolic Validation Home, let us know. Our team will walk you through the process and be available as a continued resource to answer any questions you might have.
PGx Medical
Individualized Care – Personalized Medicine
info@pgxmed.com
405-509-5112
www.pgxmed.com
by brant bullard | May 29, 2014 | Metabolic Validation Program
Our current lack of ability to predict an individual patient’s treatment success for most diseases and conditions means that clinicians have no choice but to follow a less than optimal approach to prescribing drugs and other treatment options.
Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. Commissioner of Food and Drugs
A patient being treated for high blood pressure, for example, might be placed on one of a number of blood pressure medications. The patient’s doctor makes a decision about what medication to prescribe based on only general information about what might actually work for that particular patient. If the medication does not work after a few weeks, the patient might be switched to another medication. This somewhat “trial-and-error” approach can lead to patient dissatisfaction, adverse drug responses and drug interactions and poor adherence to treatment regimens.
The goal of personalized medicine is to streamline clinical decision- making by distinguishing in advance those patients most likely to benefit from a given treatment from those who will incur cost and suffer side effects without gaining benefit.
The term “personalized medicine” is often described as providing “the right patient with the right drug at the right dose at the right time.” More broadly, “personalized medicine” may be thought of as the tailoring of medical treatment to the individual characteristics, needs and preferences of a patient during all stages of care, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.
Personalized medicine generally involves the use of two medical products – typically, a diagnostic device and a therapeutic product – to improve patient outcomes. A diagnostic device is a type of medical device. Diagnostic devices include both in vitro tests such as assays used in measurement of genetic factors and in vivo tests, such as electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiography (EKG), or diagnostic imaging equipment.
Pharmacogenomics:
Pharmacogenomics (PGx), the study of variations of DNA and RNA characteristics as related to drug response, is one of the most exciting areas of personalized medicine today. The field arises from the convergence of advances in pharmacology (the science of drugs) and genomics (the study of genes and their functions). Patients typically have variability in response to many drugs that are currently available. It can be difficult to predict who will benefit from a medication, who will not respond at all, and who will experience adverse effects. PGx seeks to understand how differences in genes and their expression affect the body’s response to medications.
More specifically, PGx uses genetic information (such as DNA sequence, gene expression,
and copy number) for purposes of explaining interindividual differences in drug metabolism (pharmacokinetics) and physiological drug response (pharmacodynamics), identifying responders and non-responders to a drug, and predicting the efficacy and/or toxicity of a drug.
Advances in PGx have opened new possibilities in drug discovery and development. PGx has allowed for more tailored treatment of a wide range of health problems, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and HIV/AIDS. FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) has supported pharmacogenomics for more than a decade by providing regulatory advice, reviewing applications, and developing policies and processes centered on genomics and individualized therapeutics.
With the help of personalized medicine, the health care management paradigm will focus on prevention, moving from illness to wellness, and from treating disease to maintaining health. By improving our ability to predict and account for individual differences in disease diagnosis, experience, and therapy response, personalized medicine offers hope for diminishing the duration and severity of illness, shortening product development timelines, and improving success rates. At the same time, it may reduce healthcare costs by improving our ability to quickly and reliably select effective therapy for a given patient while minimizing costs associated with ineffective treatment and avoidable adverse events.
Read more at: FDA.gov
For more information on Personalized Medicine via Metabolic Validation Testing:
PGx Medical
Individualized Care – Personalized Medicine
info@pgxmed.com
405-509-5112
www.pgxmed.com
by brant bullard | May 27, 2014 | Metabolic Validation Program
CDC report says most common medications are for heart disease and high cholesterol
Prescription drugs are playing an increasingly larger role in U.S. life, with nearly half of all Americans taking one or more medications.
Among adults, the most common prescription drugs are for cardiovascular disease and high cholesterol.
Those are two of several key findings in the federal government’s annual comprehensive report on the nation’s health that was released in May.
The relationship between Americans and their prescriptions is complex, according to the report produced by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On the one hand, more people than ever are receiving effective treatment for chronic conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels and depression.
But doctors and pharmacists also find themselves struggling with unintended consequences of drug use, such as prescription narcotics abuse and the advent of antibiotic-resistant germs.
“Isn’t that the case with all forms of medical technology?” said Julia Holmes, chief of the analytic studies branch at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. “It results in great benefit to people who are ill and disabled, but there’s always the potential for inappropriate use.”
The report — titled “Health, United States, 2013” — found the percentage of Americans taking prescription drugs has increased dramatically. During the most recent period, from 2007 to 2010, about 48 percent of people said they were taking a prescription medication, compared with 39 percent in 1988-1994.
Prescription drug use increased with age. About one in four children took one or more prescription drugs in the past month, compared to nine in 10 adults 65 and older, according to the study.
“This is really not earth-shattering news. There’s an increasing number of people with chronic illnesses, and the primary management tool available for dealing with chronic illness is medication,” said William Lang, vice president of policy and advocacy for the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.
One in 10 Americans said he or she had taken five or more prescription drugs in the previous month. That raises concerns about potential drug interactions, said Anne Burns, senior vice president for professional affairs at the American Pharmacists Association.
“We know that the number of adverse drug events a patient is likely to experience increases as the number of medications they are taking increases,” Burns said. “You’ve got everything from potential interactions between medications to timing issues taking a variety of medications throughout the day.”
People who took five or more drugs in the past month tended to be older. Only 10.8 percent of people taking that many drugs were between 18 and 44, while 41.7 percent were between 45 and 64 and 47.5 percent were 65 and older.
Drugs to manage cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease and kidney disease are the most widely used medications among adults, the CDC report found.
In particular, the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs among people 18 to 64 has increased more than sixfold since 1988-1994, due in part to the increased use of statins. Also, nearly 18 percent of adults 18 to 64 took at least one cardiovascular drug during the past month.
The CDC report noted some headway in efforts to combat the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Prescriptions of antibiotics for cold symptoms during routine medical visits declined 39 percent between 1995-1996 and 2009-2010.
But the report also found a tripling of overdose deaths due to prescription narcotics. Painkillers taken among people 15 and older caused 6.6 deaths for every 100,000 people in 2009-2010, compared with 1.9 deaths per 100,000 in 1999-2000.
There has been a fourfold increase in antidepressant use among adults, but Holmes said that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Seeking help for a mental health disorder isn’t as stigmatized as it once was, she noted. In addition, companies have introduced more effective antidepressants, and researchers have found that antidepressants also can be used to treat panic and anxiety disorders.
“If antidepressants enable people to function fully in their social roles, that’s a good thing,” Holmes said.
Interestingly, even though more people are taking prescription medications, the annual growth in spending on drugs has declined. The CDC reported that spending growth slowed from 14.7 percent in 2001 to 2.9 percent in 2011.
Many popular medications have gone off patent, including cholesterol-controlling statin drugs and other medications used to treat high blood pressure or heart disease, Burns said. Increased use of generic forms of these drugs has helped control spending on medication.
PGx Medical’s Metabolic Validation testing can help decrease the number of “unnecessary drugs” based on individual metabolic validation. But most importantly, it will help healthcare professionals determine the right drug, right dose, for the right person providing a better quality of life for each patient.
For more information, contact:
PGx Medical
Individualized Care – Personalized Medicine
Info@pgxmed.com
405-509-5112
www.pgxmed.com
Source: consumer.healthday.com
