Will digital health meet precision medicine? A new systematic review says it is about time

A new systematic review of pharmacogenomics clinical decision support systems used in clinical practice in the peer-reviewed OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology suggests that these e-health tools can help accelerate pharmacogenomics, precision/personalized medicine, and digital health emergence in everyday clinical practice worldwide. Click here to read the article now. 

Anastasia Farmaki, MSc, from the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Thessaloniki, and coauthors in Greece, conducted a systematic review that examined and mapped the pharmacogenomics-clinical decision support systems (PGx-CDSSs) used in clinical practice, including their salient features in both technical and clinical dimensions. 

“From the qualitative synthesis of the findings, we conclude that the integration of PGx-CDSSs in real-world health care clinical practice is still limited,” stated the investigators. “From the current systematic review, it became evident that there is a significant level of PGx-CDSS implementation activity in the United States. This indicates that the implementation of PGx-CDSS should be investigated in different health care systems, beyond the United States, by exploring factors such as the readiness of the digital ecosystem, user behavior, broader health system requirements, and the context of test reimbursements.”

“That genetics contributes not only to disease but also to drug response variability was the path-breaking idea that paved the way for pharmacogenomics more than 6 decades ago. The systematic review in the September issue of OMICS unpacks the emerging three-way convergence of digital health, pharmacogenomics and precision medicine. The authors also identify the current knowledge gaps in pharmacogenomics-clinical decision support systems, and ways forward to accelerate precision/personalized medicine clinical uptake worldwide. I welcome your manuscripts on health informatics innovations and precision medicine for peer-review in the journal,” says Vural Özdemir, MD, PhD, DABCP, MA, Editor-in-Chief of OMICS.

About the Journal
OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology is an authoritative and highly innovative peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal published monthly online, addressing the latest advances at the intersection of postgenomics medicine, biotechnology and global society, including the integration of multi-omics knowledge, data analyses and modeling, and applications of high-throughput approaches to study complex biological and societal problems. Public policy, governance and societal aspects of the large-scale biology and 21st century data-enabled sciences are also peer-reviewed. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology website.

About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many areas of science and biomedical research. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 90 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.