Breakthrough in Individualized Treatment

Individualize Drug Dosing Based on Metabolic Profiling with the AmpliChip CYP450 Test

The AmpliChip CYP450 Test is the first FDA-cleared pharmacogenetic test for analysis of the CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 genes. These two genes in the cytochrome P450 system can greatly influence drug metabolism. The AmpliChip CYP450 Test identifies a patient’s genotype and, based on this analysis, provides the patient's predicted phenotype—either poor, intermediate, extensive or ultra-rapid metabolizer—to the clinician for use in determining a therapeutic strategy.

Why is the AmpliChip CYP450 Test Important?

Providers
The AmpliChip CYP450 Test offers providers access to information that could help to prevent adverse reactions to a given therapeutic regimen. The test also will, in some cases, enable patients to avoid suboptimal treatment choices as a result of non-response to a treatment.

Patients
For patients it is extremely important to know whether certain medications, such as pain relievers, anesthetics or antidepressants, might work differently or not at all for them. Poor or slow metabolizers may experience much longer-lasting effects of the treatment. The knowledge of the reasons behind this will empower patients to ask for different and better-tolerated medications.

If a patient is identified as an:

  • intermediate metabolizer or poor metabolizer, the patient may experience toxic effects of overmedication while taking a standard dose. These patients may benefit from smaller doses of medications metabolized through the 2D6 and 2C19 pathways.
  • ultra-rapid metabolizers, the patient may not respond to a standard dose of medication. These patients metabolize certain drugs so quickly that the blood concentration of the medication may never reach optimum therapeutic levels needed to achieve the desired effect. Hence, these patients may benefit from increased doses of medication.
  • extensive metabolizers, the patient is considered able to properly metabolize certain drugs given within a standard dosing schedule. These patients would have an expected response to medication similar to that of the majority of people within a given population.