Belgian Survey Sees Positive Public Impression of Pharmacogenomics

Ghent University researchers present findings from a precision medicine-focused survey tracking pharmacogenomic attitudes among members of the public in Flanders. The team notes that roughly half of the 156 individuals who responded to the survey reported a history of prior treatment side effects or failure, while nearly 79 percent believe pharmacogenomics could lead to more appropriate prescribing by doctors and more than 76 percent came out in favor of partial reimbursement for such tests. Even so, fewer than 46 percent said they would participate in pharmacogenomics research and just over 5 percent of responders said they were interested in direct-to-consumer testing, while more than 15 percent shared privacy concerns. "Participants preferred their healthcare professionals to perform the test and access their data, but refused commercial providers," the authors say, adding that the current findings "can be used to guide future pharmacogenomic implementation initiatives to pave the way for wide scale implementation within health care."