Clinical Implementation of Pharmacogenetic Testing in a Hospital of the Spanish National Health System: Strategy and Experience Over 3 Years

Clin Transl Sci. 2018 Mar;11(2):189-199. doi: 10.1111/cts.12526. Epub 2017 Nov 28.

Abstract

In 2014, we established a pharmacogenetics unit with the intention of facilitating the integration of pharmacogenetic testing into clinical practice. This unit was centered around two main ideas: i) individualization of clinical recommendations, and ii) preemptive genotyping in risk populations. Our unit is based on the design and validation of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarray, which has allowed testing of 180 SNPs associated with drug response (PharmArray), and clinical consultation regarding the results. Herein, we report our experience in integrating pharmacogenetic testing into our hospital and we present the results of the 2,539 pharmacogenetic consultation requests received over the past 3 years in our unit. The results demonstrate the feasibility of implementing pharmacogenetic testing in clinical practice within a national health system.

Keywords: individualization; pharmacogenetics; precision medicine.

MeSH terms

  • Evidence-Based Medicine / methods*
  • Evidence-Based Medicine / trends
  • Feasibility Studies
  • Genotype
  • Health Plan Implementation / statistics & numerical data*
  • Health Plan Implementation / trends
  • Humans
  • National Health Programs / statistics & numerical data*
  • National Health Programs / trends
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / statistics & numerical data
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / trends
  • Pharmacogenomic Testing / statistics & numerical data*
  • Pharmacogenomic Testing / trends
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / genetics
  • Precision Medicine / methods*
  • Precision Medicine / trends
  • Spain