Genetic testing can help doctors home in on the right doses of drugs to prescribe for their patients, CBS New York reports.
Some patients who are prescribed pain medication don't get relief from the amounts typically given, it notes, adding that pharmacogenomic testing can reveal gene variants they harbor that affect how they metabolize drugs. For instance, CBS New York recounts the case of Shane Tierney, who says 20 milligrams of an over-the-counter drug didn't ease his acid reflux and heartburn. But a pharmacogenomics test revealed that he should take a higher dose more frequently, it says.
"We know a relationships to patients' to genetics and how they might respond to medications for about 20 percent of the medications available," Mark Dunnenberger from NorthShore University Health system CBS New York.
CBS New York adds that as researchers uncover more links between people's genetic makeup and drug responses, such testing could become more widespread.