Regents push for change in genetic medicine

BY KEVIN SVEC | FEBRUARY 06, 2014 5:00 AM

What was once confined only to science-fiction movies is now the subject of boardroom meetings. The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, the home to the Iowa Institute of Human Genetics, plans to start a revolution in modern medicine. Today, most of the medication prescribed is based on the weight and body surface area of the patient. The institutes goal is to promote an alternative, which will be known as personal genomic medicine.

Such medicine would cater to each patients specific needs. The medication prescribed would be based on the genetic makeup of a patient rather than her or his body index.

Using a genetic test, scientists would be able to evaluate each patients needs, allowing health-care providers to personalize each drug treatment.

The medicine will work with each individual patient based on her or his personal health risks. By personalizing the medicine, the doctors could increase the likelihood that the drug would have the best possible effect on each patient.

Richard Smith, the director of the Institute of Human Genetics, noted several advantages of genomic medicine.

Newborns would be able to have screenings done to determine what medication would work best from the beginning, said Smith.

According to the Jackson Laboratory website, any prescription drug now on the market only works for half of the people who take it. Antidepressants are effective for only 63 percent of those who take it. The percentage rate of effectiveness jumps to 75 percent among cancer patients. Genetic testing can change that.

Part of the process has started already. For those willing to pay, they can have their genes tested. The cost for the test is $296 through the UI Hospitals and Clinics, $256 through the institute. However, Medicare is willing to pay for $295 of the costs.

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Regents push for change in genetic medicine