Warfarin Sensitivity, Iverson Genetics, and Personalized Medicine on NPR
Posted Nov 19 2009 10:01pm
Last week, NPR’s “Morning Edition” did a story on the way companies and entrepreneurs are beginning to develop and market products tailored to the genetic makeup of individual patients.
Notably, the story featured Iverson Genetic Diagnostics and their test for warfarin sensitivity. Warfarin (brand-name Coumadin®) is a commonly used blood-thinner, but doctors often have a hard time finding the right dose for patients. Too little and it’s not effective. Too much and it can cause dangerous bleeds. As Trish wrote in the previous post, last year FDA updated the label on warfarin to recommend genetic testing to determine the appropriate dosage.
Iverson Genetic Diagnostics, is one of DNA Direct’s partners. Iverson offers physicians DNA Direct’s customized, Web-enabled tool for physicians. This tool gives doctors who are testing their patients for warfarin sensitivity, DNA Direct’s Personalized Reports for their patients. These reports explains patients’ test results in a clear, plain, interactive format. They are personalized to each patient’s actual test results, and explain what the results mean in terms of warfarin dosing, They also describe how genes affect drug response, and outline the most appropriate next steps.
In addition, doctors can download a copy of their patient’s lab report and a clinical summary letter. In turn, patients may return to their online report at a later date to determine how their “metabolism status” may impact drug response for other medications.
”Morning Edition” note that that genetic testing is on the rise for response to drugs that treat diseases like cancer and AIDS. Experts say that genetic testing holds tremendous promise to improve healthcare—and accordingly, the space is filling with entrepreneurs such that the $2 billion DNA testing industry poised to grow from to $15 billion in the next ten years.
At DNA Direct, we believe this growth reflects continued progress toward a truly personalized approach to medicine, and we were pleased to see warfarin testing —an important tool to properly determine treatment—and Iverson highlighted as a bellwether in the field.
Last week, NPR’s “Morning Edition” did a story on the way companies and entrepreneurs are beginning to develop and market products tailored to the genetic makeup of individual patients.
Notably, the story featured Iverson Genetic Diagnostics and their test for warfarin sensitivity. Warfarin (brand-name Coumadin®) is a commonly used blood-thinner, but doctors often have a hard time finding the right dose for patients. Too little and it’s not effective. Too much and it can cause dangerous bleeds. As Trish wrote in the previous post, last year FDA updated the label on warfarin to recommend genetic testing to determine the appropriate dosage.
Iverson Genetic Diagnostics, is one of DNA Direct’s partners. Iverson offers physicians DNA Direct’s customized, Web-enabled tool for physicians. This tool gives doctors who are testing their patients for warfarin sensitivity, DNA Direct’s Personalized Reports for their patients. These reports explains patients’ test results in a clear, plain, interactive format. They are personalized to each patient’s actual test results, and explain what the results mean in terms of warfarin dosing, They also describe how genes affect drug response, and outline the most appropriate next steps.
In addition, doctors can download a copy of their patient’s lab report and a clinical summary letter. In turn, patients may return to their online report at a later date to determine how their “metabolism status” may impact drug response for other medications.
”Morning Edition” note that that genetic testing is on the rise for response to drugs that treat diseases like cancer and AIDS. Experts say that genetic testing holds tremendous promise to improve healthcare—and accordingly, the space is filling with entrepreneurs such that the $2 billion DNA testing industry poised to grow from to $15 billion in the next ten years.
At DNA Direct, we believe this growth reflects continued progress toward a truly personalized approach to medicine, and we were pleased to see warfarin testing —an important tool to properly determine treatment—and Iverson highlighted as a bellwether in the field.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 at 2:04 pm and is filed under Drug Response, Genetic Testing, Personalized Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.