Pharmacogenetics is a branch of medical genetics and clinical pharmacology that investigates the congenital basis for the variability of drug effects and enables the prediction of efficacy and safety (adverse drug reactions) in the use of drugs in patients. Pharmacogenetics is one of the most effective and promising areas in the development of personalized medicine (German translation: personalisierte Medizin).

The most important aspects of pharmacogenetics (German: Pharmakogenetik) include:

• Genetic factors and drug effects: Pharmacogenetics investigates how differences in individual genes can impact the safety and efficacy of drugs. This includes genes that encode enzymes responsible for drug metabolism and drug transporters. The most important enzyme system here is cytochrome P450.
• Personalized medicine: The goal of pharmacogenetics is a more personalized treatment approach in which drugs and their dosage are tailored to the patient’s genetic profile (translation into German: genetisches Profil) in order to maximize efficacy and minimize the risk of side effects.
• Drug metabolism: Pharmacogenetics investigates how genetic differences affect the speed at which drugs are metabolized in the body. A distinction is made between people with low enzyme activity (poor metabolizers) and people with significantly increased enzyme activity (ultra-rapid metabolizers).
• Side effects: Certain genetic variations can increase the risk of side effects or toxicity when taking certain drugs, for example, if the active pharmaceutical ingredient is degraded much more slowly due to reduced enzyme activity.
• Clinical application: Pharmacogenetic tests are used in clinical practice to support the selection of the appropriate drug and its dosage. These tests can be particularly useful when prescribing drugs with a narrow therapeutic window or drugs with potentially serious side effects.
• Drug development: Pharmacogenetics also plays a role in the development of new drugs and in determining their safety and efficacy in different genetic subgroups of the population.

Pharmacogenetics aims to provide more individualized and safer treatment that takes into account the genetic characteristics of each patient. This area is becoming increasingly important in the era of personalized medicine.

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