Congratulations to the team for launching the first-of-its-kind paediatric pharmacogenomics service in the UK, right here at Alder Hey!
The team of Dan Hawcutt, alongside Udeme Ohia and Christopher Parry, has set up a brand-new service to study Pharmacogenomics at Alder Hey, the first of its kind in a UK paediatric hospital.
Pharmacogenomics is the study of how a person’s genes affect the way their body reacts to medicines. This approach means we can personalise drug therapy for children and young people, improving drug effectiveness and reducing the risk of adverse reactions.
Every year, one in 15 UK hospital admissions is linked to adverse drug reactions, and many of these are avoidable. By using pharmacogenomics, we can make prescribing drugs safer and more effective.
“Medicines are the most common healthcare intervention, and we know that individuals can react differently. Some of this can be genetic and we now have an opportunity to understand, diagnose, and manage these patients. This is the first such service in the country and with increasing numbers of genetic tests, there will be more and more genomic data to interpret and understand. Understanding how the body reacts and handles medicine, especially if it is different to most people, is a lifelong factor and we need to make sure those individuals are looked after properly. That is what we hope this service will achieve.”
Professor Dan Hawcutt
Well done to everyone involved in setting this up.