UPMC doctors are piloting a new program to administer gene tests to patients to determine whether they are likely to respond to medications.

For example, a simple blood test can determine whether a patient with clogged arteries has a gene variant that makes them less likely to respond to blood-thinning medication. At UPMC, doctors are testing for that gene before prescribing medications to patients who receive a stent.

With this pilot, UPMC is among first-mover health networks embracing genomics to improve patient care. NorthShore University Health System, for instance, earlier this year opened a pharmacogenomics clinic and is working to incorporate that data into patient records so clinicians can access what it called “systematic and discrete data points” when treating patients.

[Also: Pharmacogenomics coming to EMRs]

UPMC’s goal is to use clinical pharmacogenomics knowledge to individualize patient treatments – part of a broader program at UPMC that officials say could eventually include a wide variety of drugs to improve outcomes for patients.

"Increasingly we are able to pinpoint gene variations and other factors that affect how patients metabolize drugs, allowing us to more precisely target the right drug for the right patient," said Philip Empey, assistant professor of pharmacy and therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, and the leader of the program, in a statement.

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The genetic and clinical information that is gathered for the PreCISE-Rx program, also feeds UPMC's data analytics program, which is expected to lead to new scientific insights into how and why drugs work for some patients but not others, and to identify new drug targets.

More than 700 patients are expected to be treated through this project at UPMC Presbyterian's cath lab in the coming year. Past studies show that 30 percent of patients are unlikely to appropriately metabolize clopidogrel (the blood thinning medication), and about 10 percent experience complications because of the blood thinner's ineffectiveness.

The UPMC research team will follow up with patients and collect data to evaluate their outcomes. UPMC plans to roll out the program at other hospital cath labs and expand it to include other medications.

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