Strategies to Improve the Clinical Outcomes for Direct-to-Consumer Pharmacogenomic Tests

Abstract

Direct-to-consumer genetic tests (DTC-GT) have become a bridge between marketing and traditional healthcare services. After earning FDA endorsement for such facilities, several fast-developing companies started to compete in the related area. Pharmacogenomic (PGx) tests have been introduced as potentially one of the main medical services of such companies. Most of the individuals will be interested in finding out about the phenotypic consequences of their genetic variants and molecular risk factors against diverse medicines they take or will take later. Direct-to-consumer pharmacogenomic tests (DTC-PT) is still in its young age, however it is expected to expand rapidly through the industry in the future. The result of PGx tests could be considered as the main road toward the implementation of personalized and precision medicine in the clinic. This narrative critical review study provides a descriptive overview on DTC-GT, then focuses on DTC-PT, and also introduces and suggests the potential approaches for improving the clinical related outcomes of such tests on healthcare systems.