Pharmacy Times July 22, 2025
With AI-enhanced pharmacogenetics, pharmacists lead the shift to truly individualized medicine.
A man aged 55 years with metastatic colorectal cancer was initiated on a standard fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy regimen. Within a week, he developed severe neutropenia, gastrointestinal shutdown, and septic complications requiring admission to the intensive care unit. Genetic testing, prompted by a clinical pharmacist’s suspicion of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) deficiency, revealed a DPYD gene variant that impaired 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) metabolism.
Upon confirmation, the treatment team rapidly transitioned the patient to alternative therapy and administered uridine triacetate as a rescue agent. That single gene—and one pharmacist’s intervention—made the difference between near-death and recovery.1
This case exemplifies the transformative impact of pharmacogenetic testing not only in mitigating life-threatening toxicity but also in...
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