Urgent call for guidance supporting gene-based drug dosing in children and adolescents

Sierra Scodellaro; Ronald D Cohn; Iris Cohn

doi:10.1093/pch/pxad003

Urgent call for guidance supporting gene-based drug dosing in children and adolescents

Paediatr Child Health. 2023 Jun 6;28(4):205-245. doi: 10.1093/pch/pxad003. eCollection 2023 Jul.

[Article in English, English]

Authors

Sierra Scodellaro^{1

2}, Ronald D Cohn^{3

4

5

6}, Iris Cohn^{1

2

4

7}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Paediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
² Program in Translational Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
³ Genetics and Genome Biology Program, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁵ Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁶ Division of Clinical and Metabolic and Genetics, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁷ Cardiac Genome Clinic, Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

PMID: 37287475
PMCID: PMC10243970 (available on 2024-06-06)
DOI: 10.1093/pch/pxad003

Abstract

In the past decade, there have been tremendous advancements in the field of genomics that have led to significant progress in redefining the concept of precision medicine. Pharmacogenetics (PGx) is one of the most promising areas of precision medicine and is the 'low hanging fruit' of this individualized approach to medication dosing and selection. Although a variety of regulatory health agencies and professional consortia have established PGx clinical practice guidelines, implementation has been slow given numerous barriers faced by health care professionals. Many lack the training needed to interpret PGx and there are no paediatric specific guidelines. As the field of PGx continues to grow, an emphasis on collaborative inter-professional education, coupled with ongoing efforts to increase accessibility to advancing testing technology are necessary to translate this branch of precision medicine from the bench to the bedside.

Keywords: Adverse drug reactions; Paediatrics; Pharmacogenetics; Pharmacogenomics; Precision Medicine.