Clinical Research Directory

Implementation of Personalized Medicine for Optimal Drug Therapy in Cancer

A prospective longitudinal cohort study that will assess the effect of a Personalized Medicine (PM) clinic recommendations on pharmacogenetic variation and/or interacting drugs on plasma drug exposure, effectiveness or toxicity of commonly used antidepressant, pain, and antiemetic medications in cancer patients. Such recommendations will entail genotype-guided treatment suggestions while also considering potential DDI, and will be provided to patients during their clinic visit, and referring physicians thereafter. Drug concentration and therapeutic effectiveness will be assessed before (baseline) and 6 months after recommendations have been provided. To assess effectiveness, patient-reported outcomes will be evaluated using validated scales for symptoms of depression, pain and chemotherapy-induced nausea/ vomiting The investigators hypothesize that the pharmacogenetic variation and DDI, if applicable, determine steady state drug concentration and therapeutic response or toxicity of the investigated antidepressant, pain or antiemetic treatments at baseline, while there is a clinically significant reduction or absence of the effect 6 months after the PM clinic recommendations to referring physicians and patients.