Gene testing first for patients in North West

Health staff in Merseyside and Cheshire are using gene testing to prescribe individualised dosages of warafin, a life-saving drug used for the treatment of blood clots and atrial fibrillation.  

The process involves examining specific genes which influence the body’s response to warafin. It marks the first time genotyping has been used by front-line staff in the provision of drug dosing to patients in the UK.

The process for a patient attaining the correct warafin dosage is lengthy. Typically, a patient will attend a clinic six to eight times before the correct dosage is established. If the dosage is wrong, the risk of bleeding or a blood clot increases.

An international randomised control trial in Liverpool, Newcastle and Sweden included genotype testing of patients into an algorithm to calculate dosages. The trials were highly accurate and clinics in the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Warrington Hospital and the Countess of Chester Hospital are genotyping new patients with atrial fibrillation before prescribing warafin.

Technology partner to the health institutions is LCG, an international life sciences measurement and testing company. The company offer their ParaDNA equipment which can give genotyping results from a saliva sample in 45 minutes.

There is an aim of introducing the method routinely throughout the UK. Funding is being supplies from the Wolfson Centre for Personalised Medicine, the CLAHRC NWC, the Innovation Agency and the Academic Health Science Network for the North West Coast and LGC.  

Leading the work is professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed of the University of Liverpool’s Wolfson Centre for Personalised Medicine and executive director of Liverpool Health Partners.

“This is innovation and it is disruptive; it is a way of personalising care which can be replicated in many areas of medicine, creating a major paradigm shift in how we diagnose and treat people. This is how we get patients onto the right drugs at the right doses – using ‘precision dosing’ so that they are effective. This improves the treatment of patients and improves the efficiency of existing and new drugs.” Professor Pirmohamed said.

Since the process was introduced in March and up to September, 61 patients have undertaken the genotype test before being prescribed warfarin.