Is Your Medicine Right For
Are Your Medications
On Target?
According to the FDA, more than 75% of people have genetic variations that affects how they respond to the most commonly prescribed medications.1 As a result, as much as 50% of prescribed drugs can be ineffective.2
Without PGx testing, doctors must put their patients through risky drug trials, subjecting them to ineffective medications and insidious side effects before finally finding a drug that works best.3
This can be time consuming, frustrating, dangerous, agonizing, expensive and may delay receiving much needed relief.
Fast Facts
- 128,000 Americans die every year and 2 million more are hospitalized from taking their medication as prescribed and directed.4
- Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are officially the 4th leading cause of death in the U.S..4
- One in 10 hospital admissions in older patients are directly caused by ADRs.5
- ADRs have been found to double the average hospital stay by 1.7 to 4 days6, with seniors being the hardest hit.
- ADRs increase ER admissions by as much as 42% and 30-day hospital readmissions by a staggering 52%.7
- Given the astronomical number of deaths, ER visits, hospitalizations and suffering attributed to preventable ADRs,
it’s astonishing most doctors continue to practice the “one-size-fits-all” approach to prescribing drugs.
1FDA.gov-table of Pharmacogenetic Associations. 2Slone Epidemiology Center. 3Mayo Clinic. 4U.S. News and World Report – Sept 27th, 2016.
5NIH- National Institutes of Health & AMA. 6Center for Education Research. 7John Nelson, MD., former president of AMA.
The Safer, Healthier, More Personalized Solution
Medicare and Medicaid* will now cover a PGx genetic test that reduces the need for “trial-and-error” prescribing.
With Pharmacogenetic (PGx) testing, it has never been easier to navigate the unique connections between DNA and medication treatment options.
With a simple cheek swab, doctors can now determine if a drug is more likely to help or harm a patient- before he/she even consumes a drug.
*Medicaid in approved states
Not All Pharmacogenetic (PGx) Test Are Created Equal
It is essential to mention that most labs focus on only a limited number of drugs, genes, and variants, so many physicians have never been exposed to
an efficacious test. This has led to some hesitation among doctors in implementing PGx tests.
An efficacious PGx tests utilizes Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) assay to provide clinically actionable information for medications across a broad
range of medical fields, including anesthesiology, cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, gynecology, immunology, infectious diseases,
neurology, oncology, pain management, psychiatry, respiratory, rheumatology, toxicology, urology, and more.
The test also yields results for drug-drug, drug-food, drug-alcohol, and drug-lab interactions.
*Typically, test results take about ten days, so preemptive testing is highly recommended so the results
are readily available in a medical emergency or before trying a new drug.
Benefits of PGx and Personalized Medicine
More Informed Prescribing Decisions
Saves Time
Saves Money
Reduces ER Visits
Reduces Hospital Readmissions
Reduces Mortality Rates
Reduces Pain
and Suffering
Enhances Safety Measures
Achieve Therapeutic Benefits Sooner
Lifetime Utility
Covered by Medicare and Medicaid*
*Medicaid in approved States
Financial Cost and Consequences of
“Trial and Error” Prescribing
Real People- Real Cases - Real Proof - Real Cost
Marion W.
Marion was PGx tested in April 2019. Based on the results, her doctor advised her to stop taking the Metoprolol, which she had been taking for years, and decreased the dosage of her HBP medications. Two years later, her pain management doctor ignored her PGx report and prescribed 300 mg of Tramadol, which caused a life-threatening ADR, and she was hospitalized for three days. If her doctor had adhered to the PGx report guidelines, all the expense and suffering could have been avoided.
Mike F.
Mike was having difficulty sleeping, so his doctor prescribed Escitalopram. After five weeks of undesirable side effects and no relief, he had a PGx test and learned he was a rapid metabolizer of Escitalopram. If he had been preemptively PGx tested, it would have saved him and his insurance company money and Mike time by avoiding a useless trip to the pharmacy to purchase an ineffective drug. More importantly, he would have received relief weeks sooner.
Dorothy J.
Dorothy was experiencing a piercing headache, so she went to the ER. They gave her Reglan 5mg, IV push once, and Toradol 15 mg. A few days later, she had stroke-like symptoms, so her doctor ordered an MRI. Several months later, she had a PGx test and discovered that she was a slow metabolizer of Toradol. If she had a preemptive PGx test, it could have saved her insurance carrier thousands of dollars and spared her the distress and anguish caused by a preventable ADR.
