Key insight: A large study will test whether matching patients’ genetic variants to known drug responses before they need treatment will improve health and economic outcomes.
Dr. Richard Weinshilboum is asking a big question: What if your doctor knew which drugs to treat you with before you got sick?
The problem with pharmacogenomics is that that it is not a perfect predictor. Every patient represents a therapeutic trial with n=1. The best doctors know how to mix and match drugs. If you extend the case for predictive genomics then every doctor would rely on a Watson super computer for the correct drug and dosage. Even if Watson were affordable I know a few doctors that would trust one like Dave trusted HAL in “2001”.