Medication according to the patient’s genetic makeup (personalized medicine)

Humans vary in their response to drugs, and although drugs have helped and still are helping millions of people to overcome difficult diseases, they have an ugly and unwanted face represented in their unwanted adverse effects that may be deadly. The difference in drug response can be due to many factors, including age, gender, diet, and drug-drug interactions. The unique genetic makeup of each one of us can be considered as the most important factors that affect the extent and manner of our response to different drugs.

In contrast to traditional medical approach that prescribes the same drug with the same dose for all patients who suffer from a given type of disease, personalized or “precision medicine” seeks to provide treatment solutions according to the genetic makeup of each patient in an individual manner. In other words, a personalized approach instead of "one size fits all" approach. This field of personalized medicine is witnessing a rapid progress both at research and clinical application levels. These advancements have significantly improve the level of healthcare services in developed countries..

Pharmacogenetic assays

One of the most important areas of personalized medicine is a domain called pharmacogenetics, which seeks to identify and develop genetic tests to determine how different people will respond to drugs and to suggest alternative medicines that are more effective and less harmful.

At the Palestine Korea Biotechnology Center, we provide a set of pharmacogenetic tests, especially those related to some drugs that have life-threatening effects including: