Published online Dec 9, 2014. doi: 10.5497/wjp.v3.i4.110
Revised: October 17, 2014
Accepted: October 28, 2014
Published online: December 9, 2014
The contribution of the genetic make-up to an individual’s capacity has long been recognized in modern pharmacology as a crucial factor leading to therapy inefficiency and toxicity, negatively impacting the economic burden of healthcare and restricting the monitoring of diseases. In practical terms, and in order for drug prescription to be improved toward meeting the personalized medicine concept in drug delivery, the maximum clinical outcome for most, if not all, patients must be achieved, i.e., pharmacotyping. Such a direction although promising and of high expectation from the society, it is however hardly to be afforded for healthcare worldwide. To overcome any existed hurdles, this means that practical clinical utility of personalized medicine decisions have to be documented and validated in the clinical setting. The latter implies for drug delivery the efficient implementation of previously gained in vivo pharmacology experience with pharmacogenomics knowledge. As an approach to work faster and in a more productive way, the elaboration of advanced physiologically based pharmacokinetics models is discussed. And in better clarifying this topic, the example of tamoxifen is thoroughly presented. Overall, pharmacotyping represents a major challenge in modern therapeutics for which pharmacologists need to work in successfully fulfilling this task.
Core tip: Drug prescription in order to be improved, the drug delivery process needs to confront the challenges of genomics knowledge translation to ensure the maximum clinical outcome for most, if not all, patients, i.e., achieving pharmacotyping. The practical clinical utility of personalized medicine decisions needs to be documented and validated in the clinical setting. Physiologically based pharmacokinetic models represent an approach by which the faster and more efficient implementation of pharmacogenomics knowledge in evidence-based medicine could be achieved. Pharmacotyping represents a major challenge in modern therapeutics for which pharmacologists needs to work both in academia and research in successfully fulfilling this task.