Drug-induced arrhythmia: pharmacogenomic prescribing?

Drug-induced Torsades de Pointes is a rare, unpredictable, and life-threatening serious adverse event. It can be caused by both cardiac and non-cardiac drugs and has become a major issue in novel drug development and for the regulatory authorities. This review describes the problem, predisposing factors, and the underlying genetic predisposition as it is understood currently. The future potential for pharmacogenomic-guided and personalized prescription to prevent drug-induced Torsades de Pointes is discussed. Database searches utilized reports from www.qtdrugs.org up to January 2012, case reports and articles from www.pubmed.com up to January 2012, and the British National Formulary edition at www.bnf.org.