UCSF Researcher Shares Insights into Gene-Based Pharmacology

Kathleen Giacomini makes progress by doing research in reverse.

By Jeffrey Raymond
June 4, 2007

Kathleen Giacomini, PhD, a researcher who is helping to bring gene-based medication closer to reality, shared highlights of her work at the University of Maryland, Baltimore on May 8 in the annual Ellis S. Grollman Lecture in Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Helping doctors and pharmacists choose drugs based, at least in part, on a patient’s genetic code holds promise for more effective and safer prescriptions. But research by Giacomini, professor and chair of the Department of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California at San Francisco, shows particular promise by reversing the usual course of study.

Typically, researchers start with a group of patients and do pharmacogenetic studies to identify how the patients’ differing reactions to a drug might be explained by their genetics. But Giacomini’s research group starts with known genetic variations to a drug, and eventually searches a genetic database for patients whose genotypes match the desired response. Her research has used the process to test how effectively the bodies of patients with different genotypes are able to use Metformin, a popular diabetes drug, as well as Gabapentin, an epilepsy drug.

Giacomini said she would like to see more large-scale studies along the lines of what her group is doing before medical science reaches the point where genetics informs prescription decisions. “But,” she added, “we feel we’re one step closer.”

Natalie Eddington, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the School of Pharmacy, said a focus on genetics research could help physicians in the future avert adverse drug reactions among their patients.

On the other hand, she said, if doctors retrieve and study a patient’s genetic code in order to prescribe medications, that information could potentially be used by insurance companies to deny coverage. Also, collecting that information could leave it susceptible to theft, she added.

Still, Eddington embraced the new wave in pharmacogenetic research because it promises better health for so many people. “It’s the right thing to do,” she said.