Title: Pharmacogenetics in clinical practice: Are we ready for the era of personalized medicine?

Biography:

Mohamed E.E. Shams is a professor at Faculty of Pharmacy at University of Mansoura in Egypt. He earned his PhD in clinical pharmacy and pharmacy practice from the Faculties of Pharmacy and Medicine at Johannes Gutenburg University of Mainz in Germany. His pharmacy experience includes practice in patient care, clinical pharmacogenetics, clinical pharmacokinetics, therapeutic drug monitoring, pharmacoeconomics, medications errors, drug-interactions, long term care and hospital settings. He has many papers and projects either presented or published in reputed journals. He is an internationally recognized expert in many areas of clinical pharmacy, pharmacy practice and pharmaceutics. 

Abstract

Personalized medicine is a rapidly advancing field of health care. It means the prescription of specific therapeutics best suited for an individual based on pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic information. Cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6) is an example of a polymorphic isoenzyme which is involved in the oxidative metabolism of numerous commonly prescribed drugs, including many antiarrhythmics, β-blockers, neuroleptics, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and tricyclic antidepressants. Total deletion of the CYP2D6 gene or mutations may lead to an inactive or less-active enzyme. Patients who are taking drugs that are CYP2D6 substrates and who have such mutations may have elevated drug levels and drug toxicity. Conversely, gene duplication or multiplication is thought to lead to increased enzyme production, which results in an increased rate of drug metabolism and failure of treatment.