簡易遺伝子診断法の開発・実臨床への適用による医薬品適正使用の推進

抄録

Utilization of genetic information to achieve more appropriate use of drugs has not yet progressed, although a number of studies on the association between genetic polymorphisms and responses to drugs have been performed. Comparison among groups possessing different genotypes may give a significant difference in median responses to drugs, but little answer to the wide variation of drug response in patients sharing the same genotype. In fact, genetic information alone cannot accurately predict response to drugs in each individual.
However, application of genetic information is often extremely useful to correct drug therapy to a more appropriate form in certain cases. Since pharmacists have to take responsibility for drug therapy in each patient, they should use all tools available including genotyping that may achieve better treatment. Nevertheless, since genetic information alone is insufficient to design better drug therapy in most cases at present, it is important to clarify factors, which should be considered together with genetic information. Clinical researches are indispensable to identify these factors.
A simple genotyping method is a powerful tool to solve problems of drug therapy encountered at hospitals and/or to provide evidence through clinical studies on usefulness to apply genetic information to improve current drug therapy. The increase in the number of pharmacists, who are interested in not only drugs but also the genetic character of patients, is expected to contribute to better drug therapy in the future.