A randomized controlled trial comparing pharmacogenomic guided versus standard pharmacist care to optimize antidepressant drug therapy. This study evaluates the effectiveness of pharmacists utilizing pharmacogenomic testing in the community pharmacy setting to help patients find the most appropriate drug therapy option(s) and minimize the risk of side effects in collaboration with prescribing physicians.
Physicians and pharmacists have long been aware of subtle differences between patients in their responses to medications, but until recently did not have the tools to predict a patient's response to a drug before prescribing it. Many commonly prescribed medications are either ineffective or cause significant side effects for some patients. Individual variation in response to prescription drugs due to genetic factors (pharmacogenetics) is a substantial part of this serious clinical issue. Such variation in patient response ranges from failure to benefit from a drug, to adverse drug reactions, and drug-drug interactions when several drugs are taken at the same time. After years of uncertainty over the value of personalized medicine, recent studies show promising approaches for incorporating pharmacogenetics (PGx) data into routine patient care in order to reduce medication issues due to genetic factors. Over the last decades, clinical PGx research has made significant progress in defining which genetic variations are important for influencing inter-patient variability in drug response. Evidence-based consensus therapeutic guidelines for multiple drug-gene pairs are available and promoted by the Clinical Pharmacogenetic Implementation Consortium (CPIC). Although the primary focus of PGx testing has been on improving drug selection and dosing, a secondary benefit of testing is the improvement of medication adherence. GeneYouIn has developed the Pillcheck® drug response test that provides personalized insights on a patient's predicted response to medications. To implement the Pillcheck test, GeneYouIn is working with pharmacists who are adept in understanding pharmacogenetic terminology and can consult with prescribing physicians and patients within current scope of practice. GeneYouIn will provide educational seminars on the latest advances in pharmacogenetics and using the Pillcheck report. This demonstration project will provide critical education to clinical pharmacists to enable utilization of patients' pharmacogenetic data for evidence-base treatment optimization. The Pillcheck report has been carefully designed to make it easy to interpret and integrate in the clinical pharmacy setting. The study will provide insights on the impact of pharmacogenetics testing on solving Drug Therapy Problems. The Pillcheck test assesses variations in 14 genes responsible for drug transport and metabolism for over 140 commonly prescribed medications. The Pillcheck report can enable pharmacists to effectively identify Drug Therapy Problems and advise physicians on personalized treatment options thus allowing for more rational medication choices and/or dosing.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
213
pharmacogenomic drug response test provides personalized insights on a patient's predicted response to medications based on metabolism
Pharmacist providing standard of care as per usual practice
John Papastergiou Pharmacy Ltd - Store#500
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
John Papastergiou Pharmacy Ltd - Store#994
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Treatment Satisfaction with Medicines Questionnaire (SATMED-Q) - general measure of satisfaction to drug therapy
This scale evaluates patient satisfaction of drug treatment for with any chronic disease. It's a brief, self-administer multidimensional generic questionnaire comprising 17 items. There are six categories of questions assessing satisfaction of (1) drug efficacy, (2) side-effects, (3) convenience of use, (4) medical care, (5) impact on activities of daily living and (6) general satisfaction. Scores of individual items range from 0=not at all, 1=a little bit, 2=somewhat, 3=quite a bit, 4=very much. A higher total score is an indication of greater satisfaction with drug therapy. Only scores from the side effects category would be summed as negative values. There is no recommended cutoff score, however is used to monitor the overall satisfaction to treatment over the period of the study.
Time frame: Change of score from baseline to 6 months
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) - measure/monitor the severity of depression
PHQ-9 is a clinical evidence-based scale used to assess the severity of depression. There are nine diagnostic criteria for major depression based on the Diagnostic and Statistical 4th Ed. (DSM-IV) which are scored '0' (not at all), '1' (several days),'2' more than half the days, '3' (nearly every day). The nine items cover experience of pleasure, feeling down, sleep disruption, energy levels, appetite, feeling a failure, trouble concentrating, speaking slowly or being fidgety and having negative thoughts around suicide or self-harm over the previous 2 weeks. The total sum indicates depression severity: 0-4 none, 5-9 mild, 10-14 moderate, 15-19 moderately severe, 20-27 severe.
Time frame: Change of score from baseline to 6 months
Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) - measure/monitor the severity of anxiety
Evidence-based questionnaire used to monitor the severity of generalized anxiety. The GAD-7 score is calculated by assigning scores of '0' (not at all), '1' (several days),'2' more than half the days, '3' (nearly every day). Questions assess the tendency of feeling nervous, not being able to stop or control worrying, worrying too much about different things, trouble relaxing, being so restless that it's hard to sit still, becoming easily annoyed or irritable, feeling afraid as if something awful might happen. Total sums of 5, 10, and 15 represent mild, moderate, and severe anxiety, respectively.
Time frame: Change of score from baseline to 6 months
Sheehan Disability Scale - measure of functional impairment in work/school, social life, and family life
This scale assesses functional impairment using three 0 to 10 point visual analog scales. This can also be interpreted as percentages. Each of the three scales would have the patient represent how have their symptoms disrupted (1) work/school life, (2) social life, and (3) family life/responsibilities. The points from the 3 scales are summed as a global functional impairment score ranging from 0 (unimpaired) to 30 (highly impaired). There is no recommended cutoff score, however is used to monitor the response to treatment over the period of the study. In general, a score of 5 or greater on any of the three scales is associated with significant functional impairment.
Time frame: Change of score from baseline to 6 months
Number of pharmacist identified drug therapy problems
Total number of Drug Therapy Problems related to antidepressant use identified by the pharmacist include the following types (1) Dose too high/overuse/abuse, (2) Dose too low, (3) Unnecessary drug therapy/duplication, (4) Adverse drug reaction / drug interaction, (5) Requires additional drug therapy, (6) Non-adherence, (7) Inappropriate drug for indication
Time frame: Analysis done at the completion of study (~1 year)
Prescriber acceptance rate of pharmacist's recommendations
Percentage of prescriber accepted pharmacist recommendations in the intervention group vs. control group
Time frame: Analysis done at the completion of study (~1 year)
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