Excerpt: “Genetic variability can also be useful in understanding ineffective or unsafe prescriptions. In US alone, >3 billion prescriptions are written annually and millions of people depend on prescription and over the counter drugs to sustain their health. It has been estimated that >3 million of those prescriptions are either incorrect or ineffective. A non-efficacious drug decreases chances of survival while increasing additional cost to the patient. Deaths due to adverse drug reactions (ADRs) rank 4th-6th leading cause of deaths in US [8]. The cost associated with ADRs is expected to be >177 billion annually. Pharmacogenomics has the potential to minimize ADRs and some of the ADRs previously considered unpreventable may now be preventable due to better understanding of genetic variability [9–12]. These postmarketing experiences support the idea that pharmacogenetics should be involved early on in the drug development process and these postmarketing lessons are very beneficial in predicting clinical outcomes to a much better extent.”
Citation: Gupta D (2013) Pharmacogenomics in Drug Discovery and Development. J Develop Drugs 2:e126. doi: 10.4172/2329-6631.1000e126