As more medical providers adopt pharmacogenetic testing, pharmacies have more opportunities to lead in providing personalized medicine. The clear benefits in optimizing treatment, reducing side effects and medication waste that pharmacogenetic testing provides empower patients to take control of their health. Pharmacy professionals can play a critical role in assisting in counselling and educating patients prior to taking a test and post-test with their results. Educating patients before they take a test is important so that they understand what a pharmacogenetic test is—that they are typically specific to medications and not disease states. Also, clarifying to a patient how a pharmacogenetic test examines genes for variations that may change how the patient metabolizes or break down a medication is important.

The results from a pharmacogenetic test are typically broken down into categories that are used to help determine which medications are most likely to be effective and safe for the individual based on the presence of specific gene variants known to produce an altered response to one or more commonly used drugs. Pharmacy professionals can use these results to educate patients on potential treatments and/or provide future preventive care counseling as the results can be used throughout a patient’s life.

As a newer precision approach to drug therapy, insurers are recognizing the advantages of pharmacogenetic testing. Aside from being a tax-deductible expense under the Income Tax Act, pharmacogenetic testing can be claimed under the health care spending accounts of most private insurance plans. Some private insurance plans will also reimburse for pharmacogenetic testing through their extended health care benefits under “laboratory diagnostic testing”. If a patient is submitting to a private insurance plan to have the cost of the test reimbursed, most insurers require that the test be ordered via prescription by a licensed health care provider.