Another Update to MatchMyMeds

Genetics research is constantly ongoing, and new associations between specific genetic variants and how they impact certain health outcomes are routinely being published in peer reviewed journals. Our research and development team at DNA Labs works very hard to make sure that our test panels incorporate the latest clinically relevant findings. That being said, we are also extremely careful when it comes to adding content to our genetic testing panels. For example, although it looks great from a marketing perspective to advertise a pharmacogenetics panel that promises to cover every drug on the market, being able to test more meds is not necessarily a good thing if the recommendations have very little clinical validity behind them. Unless there is sufficient evidence to back it up, the last thing we want to do is weigh in on a prescribing decision that might discourage a physician from prescribing a drug they are comfortable with, and instead have them select one that might be less effective or worse, more toxic.

That’s why DNA Labs takes a very conservative approach and only provides drug/dosing recommendations if supported by information that appears in the label of the drug, or if there is a high level of evidence from clinical studies that show the impact that specific genetic variants have on drug safety and/or efficacy.

PharmGKB.org (the pharmacogenomics knowledge base) is the go-to resource for clinical implementation of pharmacogenomics. There, you can find summaries of all of the drug/dosing guidelines published by international consortia including the Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC), the Dutch Pharmacogenetics Working Group, (DPWG), the Canadian Pharmacogenomics Network for Drug Safety (CPNDS), and others, as well as summaries of pharmacogenetic information found within drug labels. This website also ranks drug/dosing recommendations based on their “Levels of Evidence”.

Many of the medications covered by other pharmacogenetics companies are still in level 3 (based on a single, preliminary and not-replicated study) or even level 4 (evidence does not support an association), which we feel is irresponsible and can be dangerous. In some cases, there are dozens or even hundreds of genetic variants that are categorized as level 3/4, yet companies provide dosing recommendations based on only one of them.

New Drugs Added

After a thorough review of newly published guidelines and drug labels, we are pleased to announce the addition of 29 new medications to our MatchMyMeds panel, which brings the total number of drugs covered to 129!

Amongst the new medications added are some that are very commonly prescribed, including drugs used for anxiety and depression like diazepam (Valium) and amoxapine (Asendin); cardiovascular drugs like apixaban (Eliquis) and rivaroxaban (Xarelto); oncology drugs including 5-fluorouracil (Adrucil) and capecitabine (Xeloda); pain meds like buprenorphine/naloxone (Suboxone) and fentanyl; urology drugs including sildenafil (Viagra) and tadalafil (Cialis) for erectile dysfunction; as well as inhalers for COPD and asthma. The table below contains the complete list of new medications added, and check out our website for the complete list of 129 medications covered by MatchMyMeds.

   Dr. Aaron Goldman, PhD
  Chief Science Officer