pharmacogenomics

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the study of how an individual's genetic variation affects their response to drugs, encompassing both pharmacokinetics (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) and pharmacodynamics (the drug's mechanism of action and target interactions); genetic variants in drug-metabolising enzymes such as CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 determine whether a patient is a poor, intermediate, extensive, or ultra-rapid metaboliser of specific medications, explaining much of the individual variability in drug efficacy and adverse effects; pharmacogenomic testing enables prescribers to choose drugs and doses optimised for a patient's genetic profile, avoiding serious adverse reactions and improving therapeutic outcomes; the field is foundational to the vision of precision medicine, in which treatment decisions are individualised using molecular profiling