OneOme Supports Bipartisan Led “Right Drug Dose Now” Act – Should Help Implement Better Precision Medicine and Prevention of Adverse Drug Events

June 22, 2022

OneOme, a leading pharmacogenomic and precision medicine company was a named supporter of the “Right Drug Dose Now” Act, which was introduced at the end of February, 2022. A bipartisan act, brought by Representatives Tom Emmer (MN-06) and Eric Swalwell (CA-15), the “Right Drug Dose Now” Act looks to better enable pharmacogenetic testing to prevent adverse drug events and encourage the use of therapies tailored to a patient’s genetic makeup.

Emmer and Swalwell are co-chairs of the Personalized Medicine Caucus. The bill was supported by OneOme with PGx knowledge from OneOme’s Chief Medical Officer Julie Ceno-England, MD, along with Personalized Medicine Coalition, the American College of Medical Genetics, the Association for Managed Care Pharmacy, the American Society of Pharmacovigilance, other PGx companies, and the GTMRx Institute.

“For too long, patients and providers have been reliant on a ‘test and see’ approach to prescribing pharmaceuticals,” said Emmer in a press statement. “At best, this method is imprecise, and at worst, risks harmful patient outcomes. Every person’s unique genetic make-up affects drug efficacy, absorption rate, dosage and as a result, patient safety. Pharmacogenomics gives providers the chance to fine-tune treatment and enables improved decision-making regarding prescription medications.”

Over 5 billion prescriptions are filled each year. However, not all drugs are effective for all people. In fact, response rates for many drugs are only 50-75%. One of the factors that can help explain this variability is an individual patient's DNA, which may affect drug metabolism (pharmacokinetics), mechanism of action (pharmacodynamics), and drug toxicity.

Enacting of the “Right Drug Dose Now” involves updating the National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention to add educational information on how adverse drug events can be reduced through the use of pharmacogenetic testing, as well as updating electronic health records with pharmacogenomic information to help healthcare providers better understand the link between genetics and drug metabolism when prescribing.

The legislation also seeks to allocate $7M per fiscal year from 2022 until 2025 to fund implementation research on conduct, support and maintenance of pharmacogenomic medicine through the Genomic Community Resources program at the National Institute of Health.

Dr. Julie England, Director of Medical Affairs at OneOme said, “It was my pleasure to collaborate with Professor Pam Jacobson, PharmD from University of MN, and GTMRx to give insights to Congressman Emmer’s office and associates on the Right Drug Dose Now Act. This bill promotes much needed awareness and education for both patients and providers on adverse drug events, and pharmacogenomics to better precision health care for Americans."

Co-founded by Mayo Clinic, OneOme is a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based precision medicine company focused on bringing high-quality pharmacogenomics (PGx) into patient care. With a belief that PGx holds the potential to make a positive, appreciable difference in the lives of patients, OneOme works closely with their partners to help realize these benefits across the healthcare ecosystem.

. . . . . .

IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science. Medicine Use and Spending in the U.S. HTTPS://WWW.IQVIA.COM/INSIGHTS/THE-IQVIA-INSTITUTE/REPORTS/MEDICINE-USE-AND-SPENDING-IN-THE-US-A-REVIEW-OF-2018-AND-OUTLOOK-TO-2023 Published May 2019. Accessed June 10, 2020.

Spear BB, Heath-Chiozzi M, Hu J. Clinical application of pharmacogenetics. Trends Mol. Med. 2001; 7, 201–204.