The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) has announced that pharmacogenomic (PGx) reports are now available through the Malaffi platform, facilitating personalised treatment plans for patients and enhancing the efficiency and quality of care provided in the emirate. The PGx reports minimise adverse drug reactions and enhance effectiveness based on individual genomic makeup. The genomic database provided by the Emirati Genome Programme further safeguards the health and wellbeing of the community.
The reports will be made available to healthcare providers through Malaffi, the Health Information Exchange (HIE) platform, operated by Abu Dhabi Health Data Services (ADHDS) - an M42 company, and aim to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare outcomes and services provided to the community by enabling more personalised treatment options based on patient genetics. Healthcare providers can now make more personalised therapeutic regimen modifications based on drug interactions, pharmacokinetics (how the body processes medications), and pharmacodynamics (the biochemical and physiological effects of drugs on the body), along with findings of pharmacogenomic testing for optimal therapeutic outcomes.
Dr Asma Ibrahim Al Mannaei, the Executive Director of the Health Life Science Sector at DoH, said: “Up to 99 per cent of patients have at least one actionable gene variant that increases the risk of adverse drug reactions. Non-optimised medical prescriptions can result in the loss of precious time and resources for patients and can cause preventable adverse drug reactions which often lead to incomplete treatment adherence. The availability of PGx reports will help healthcare providers across Abu Dhabi create more efficient and effective treatment plans, averting 20-30 per cent of adverse drug reactions for eligible EGP participants based on individual genetic variables. The initiative is a significant milestone in DoH’s strategy to advance precision medicine for the wellbeing of the community and raise the profile of Abu Dhabi in the global healthcare landscape.”
PGx reports provide healthcare professionals with critical insights into how a patient’s genetic makeup affects their response to medications. By analysing 23 pharmacogenes that impact 128 different medications, these reports enable more informed decisions regarding medication selection, reducing the risk of adverse drug reactions, predicting potential drug interactions, and improving therapeutic outcomes.
Currently, the reports are available for select cancer, mental health, respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and infectious disease patients. Healthcare providers can order testing for pharmacogenomics for patients meeting eligibility criteria. Eligible patients include those over 40 years old who have shown no clinical progress with current medication, adverse drug reactions that require hospitalisation, or new patients prescribed with specific medications covered by pharmacogenomic testing. Tests are also available to 18–39-year-old EGP participants prescribed with select medications, in addition to patients with liver or renal impairments prescribed with medications that potentially affect liver or kidney function.
