Transforming Pharmaceutical Education to Accelerate the Acceptance and Implementation of Personalized Medicine

The lack of appropriate health professional education is considered a major barrier to the implementation of pharmacogenomics in clinical practice. Pharmacogenomics is important for personalized medicines and for safer, more effective pharmacotherapy. In simple terms, pharmacogenomics can improve the clinical outcomes of pharmacotherapy by the use of genetic information. This will lead to bettermedicalcare due to thebetter chance of therapeuticsuccessandthereductionofadverseeffects.It also may reduce health care costs by restricting use of certain treatments to thosewho willget the mostbenefit. 1 Worldwide, only a limited number of pharmacists use pharmacogenomics in their practice and this is usually in highly specialized roles. Yet, it is acknowledged that pharmacists,asdrugtherapyexperts,shouldhaveagreater role incorporating pharmacogenomic information into patient care. There is a wide range of opportunities for pharmacists in the field of pharmacogenomics. Translational medicine is loosely defined as “the process of applying ideas, insights, and discoveries generatedthroughbasicscientificresearchtothetreatmentor prevention of human disease.” The International Society of Pharmacogenomics has stated that pharmacogenomics knowledgeisnecessaryforincorporatingpersonalizedmedicine approaches into routine clinical practice. To facilitate translation, it is essential that pharmacists are fully prepared for the use of pharmacogenomic diagnostic tools; however, insufficient education and the resulting lack of knowledge and contextual awareness of these tools will pose severe barriers to the widespread implementation of personalized medicine into clinical practice. This commentary aims to highlight critical issues surrounding the development of pharmaceutical education in order to accelerate the acceptance of personalized medicine.