April 21, 2000
Pharmacists may soon begin using a customer's genetic code to fill a prescription tailormade exactly for them.
It's a move to eliminate deadly drug interactions which currently kill 100,000 people per year.
Science Specialist Ed Yeates reports.
Imagine giving a pharmacist a prescription.
But before it's filled, he calls up a computer profile which analyzes all of your genetic variations.
He then gives you a medication specifially designed for your needs.
When we take medications, they interact with all sorts of proteins in our body. Since there are variations in those proteins - depending on the variations in our genes - some drugs work better. Others cause dangerous side effects.
But if each customer had a computer chip identifying those variations - the pharmacist could quickly prepare or choose exactly the right compound - one that works specifially just for that person.
DR. LYNN JORDE, ECCLES INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN GENETICS: "WE ENVISION A TIME IN WHICH THE PATIENT WOULD COME IN - A DROP OF BLOOD WOULD BE TAKEN - AND THEIR GENETIC PROFILE WOULD BE ANALYZED ON THAT COMPUTER CHIP."
ED YEATES, SCIENCE SPECIALIST: "A CHIP ABOUT THE SIZE OF THIS PIECE OF PAPER CURRENTLY CONTAINS A QUARTER OF A MILLION VARIATIONS ON A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL. WITHIN A YEAR - THAT COULD BE UP TO ONE MILLION."
Computers would match up compounds or combinations of medications which are compatible with the DNA variations identified on the chip. The technique would avoid trial and error many physicians go through trying to find the right drug. Computers could even adjust the concentrations for that patient - automatically.
Utah geneticist Dr. Lynn Jorde says current experimental chips with limited information are already cheap and they're getting cheaper.
Dr. Jorde: "CURRENTLY A SINGLE DNA CHIP COSTS $25 OR SO. ONE COMPANY ESTIMATES THEY WILL BE ABLE TO CUT THAT COST DOWN TO ABOUT 5 CENTS A CHIP."
Those individualized chips could also identify protein variations in bacteria and other infectious agents in the body - allowing the pharmacist or physician to specifically attack drug-resistant bugs.
