OSU Awarded $9.1M to Improve Drug Therapy Using Gene Profiles

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences has awarded a $9.1 million, five-year grant to The Ohio State University for a study titled “Expression Genetics in Drug Therapy.” The goal of the research is to enhance drug response rates and reduce the number of adverse drug reactions among patients taking medication.

“It’s estimated that 30 to 70 percent of people who take medication do not respond favorably and even have serious adverse reactions to it,” says study leader Wolfgang Sadee, chair and professor of pharmacology, of pharmacy, of internal medicine, of psychiatry and of public health at OSU. Sadee also chairs Ohio State’s Program in Pharmacogenomics.

“Because people are genetically different, they respond differently to medication,” he says. “If we can identify these genetic differences, then we can prevent adverse drug reactions and predict which drugs will offer the best treatment for individual patients.”

For more information, see the release from OSU.