Relevance of pharmacogenomics for developing countries in Europe : implementation in the Maltese population

Abstract

Pharmacogenomics is a promising new discipline that can realize personalized treatment for patients suffering from many common diseases, particularly those with multiple treatment modalities. Recent advances in the deciphering of the human genome sequence and high throughput genotyping technology have led to the reduction of the overall genotyping costs and enabled the inclusion of genotype-related dosing recommendations into drug package inserts, hence allowing the integration of pharmacogenomics into clinical practice. Although, pharmacogenomics gradually assumes an integral part in mainstream medical practice in developed countries, many countries, particularly from the developing world, still do not have access either to the knowledge or the resources to individualize drug treatment. The PharmacoGenetics for Every Nation Initiative (PGENI) aims to fill in this gap, by making pharmacogenomics globally applicable, not only by defining population-specific pharmacogenomic marker frequency profiles and formulating country-specific recommendations for drug efficacy and safety but also by increasing general public and healthcare professionals’ awareness over pharmacogenomics and genomic medicine. This article highlights the PGENI activities in Europe and its implementation in the Maltese population, in an effort to make pharmacogenomics readily applicable in European healthcare systems.