Next Biosciences is changing the face of medicine in the country with the launch of PharmaGene – a new pharmacogenomics test, making individualised precision medicine possible.
Doctors will no longer have to go through trial and error when it comes to scripting medicine. PharmaGene will provide tailor made patient prescriptions according to their genes, drugs and lifestyle, saving the patients time and money by bypassing the trial and error phase.
Since your genes do not change throughout your life, the Live report is a once-off test to provide you insight into your medical care throughout your lifetime. The Live report offers a live online portal that a health practitioners can use to manipulate a patient's regimen in real time to achieve the lowest risk score possible according to their genes, drugs and lifestyle. The portal will automatically update as more drugs and pharmacogenomic data become available, making this test valid throughout a patient's life. This portal also allows a platform for specialists to streamline their regimens to ensure there are no contraindications between a patient's doctors if they are seeing more than one.
PharmaGene provides personalised medicine to patients from a holistic perspective. It’s not only your genes that affect your medication but your lifestyle - PharmaGene looks at your current lifestyle and how it affects your medication.
This is especially relevant for people on various drugs and medicines as they age. This is also beneficial for children in that you can establish optimal dosage according to your child’s genetics and eliminate toxic ones. Kim Hulett, Founder of Next Biosciences believes that every person should have a pharmacogenomics test after birth.
Yvonne Holt, Next Biosciences Medical Director, says, “Testing not only reduces healthcare costs and saves time but offers a new level of patient centricity. Today's medicine is still largely based on a one-size-fits-all model, where patients diagnosed with the same condition are often prescribed the same medication and dose. This approach can lead to preventable adverse drug reactions, reduced efficacy and non-compliance due to intolerance and increased healthcare costs.”
“Variations in these genes can cause medication to become toxic in our body or have no efficacy depending on the variation. PharmaGene finds the best possible regimen for every patient by analysing more than 13 000 medications at different dosages and contraindications between medicines and lifestyle indications to produce an expansive treatment plan tailored to each patient. This will substantially reduce the risk of adverse or even fatal reactions to medication.”
While most medical aids do not cover DTC genetic tests, Holt says it’s starting to play an integral role in holistic healthcare, which providers can no longer ignore.
“Medical aids can take advantage of the data by encouraging members to employ targeted preventive measures. This could potentially reduce the overall healthcare costs for insurers in the long run by preventing or mitigating the impact of certain illnesses. Furthermore, with genetic information, medical aids can tailor treatment plans to each individual's unique genetic makeup. This personalised approach may lead to more effective treatments, reducing trial and error in medication and, again, lowering healthcare expenses associated with unsuccessful treatments.
The actionable insights gained from this testing and benefits to your health, is priceless. For more information about PharmaGene, click here.