Weekend Off, But Genetics Never Rests.

I took the weekend off from posting because I was in the hospital 3 days in a row. It is truly amazing how little you know when you start internship. I am frankly amazed that there aren't more problems during July. The statisticians must have been crazy.

Rule number 1-Don't get elective care in July
Rule number 2-Don't go to a training hospital in July
Rule number 3-Always ask about the medications a nurse gives you

Enough public service.....Back to genomics and personalized medicine.
I was sent an email the other day from a company called Genelex. You may have heard of them. They have been offering pharmacogenomic testing since 2000. Yes that is correct. I thought we should take the time to review what this company offers.

The first tool is called GeneMedRx.
According to the site : GeneMedRx is the first software tool available to prescribers that predicts drug-drug interaction risk based on both cytochrome P450 metabolism and genetic testing. This allows for enhanced understanding of metabolism-based adverse drug interactions or lack of efficacy.

I would say that after reviewing this tool it is a very good resource that should be considered. In addition, a company such as Revolution Health or even an EMR would be smart to snap up a tool such as this. It has over 2000 drugs and metabolites as well as significant links to PubMed. For a demo.

I will continue to review this company throughout the week. They have some very useful and some debatable services as well.

The Sherpa Says: Sorry for the weekend off. I know.........But like C3PO says "Please don't deactivate me" There is alot going on this week and I hope to cover it all. Keep Climbing.

The Problem with Avandia

Warning....This is a non-genetics post (for now)

Yesterday in the media and the New England Journal of Medicine an article was released. This meta-analysis implicated a PPAR gamma activator named Rosiglitazone in the increased risk of heart attack, and death from heart attack. The risk fo heart attack was increased by 43% and the risk for death from cardiovascular causes was increased by 64%. Now before you get too crazy let's do some data analysis.

1. The study is a meta analysis of 42 articles. This methodology is fraught with problems.
2. The second result....64% increased risk of death is not even statistically significant P value of 0.06 with a confidence interval which includes REDUCED RISK OF DEATH.
3. This study is a policy play, based on the fears of Vioxx.

The Gene Sherpa Says: Don't get me wrong, if you have risk of heart disease in the family, then you should not take this drug now. At least until a full proper study can be done. But please, don't freak out. Just talk to your doctor about this risk!

Disturbing Drugs

In the most disgusting display of capitalism this side of the I don't know where Wired Blog posts about PharmaTV. Four companies, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Novartis and Procter & Gamble are behind this disgusting "educational" television channel. The article can be found in the Guardian. I am deeply disturbed by this precedent. At least you can tell the difference between an ad and a show. True, even these days product placement, fake blogs, etc. continue to blur the lines.

The Gene Sherpa Says: What's next? DTC Gene TV? Shame on all of you.