PREPARE: Preventing Adverse Drug Reactions
“Making effective treatment optimization accessible to every european citizen”
Every patient is different, and so is their response to certain drugs. While a certain medication might show good efficacy in one person without causing any adverse drug events, another patient might experience insufficient efficacy or adverse reactions when taking the same drug. These differences in drug response are partly attributable to individual genetic differences, so-called ‘pharmacogenomic (PGx) variants’. Testing patients for these PGx variants allows healthcare providers to provide their patients with a more personalized drug therapy, ultimately helping to increase the efficacy and safety of medical treatments.
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What is PREPARE?
PREPARE (Preemptive Pharmacogenomic Testing for Preventing Adverse Drug Reactions) is a clinical study initiated by the U-PGx (Ubiquitous Pharmacogenomics) consortium to implement and evaluate the impact of pharmacogenomic testing on therapy outcomes in seven European clinical centres.
What is the goal of PREPARE?
The goal of PREPARE is to show that pre-emptively testing patients for an entire panel of clinically relevant PGx markers will result in an overall reduction in the number of clinically relevant drug-genotype associated adverse drug reactions. Pre-emptive testing means that the testing is performed before a certain drug is prescribed. This means that the results can be used by your physician or pharmacist to select the correct drug or dose for you. Furthermore, the cost-effectiveness of testing patients for an entire panel of relevant markers at once will be evaluated.
How will PREPARE achieve this goal?
Within 3 years, starting from March 2017, 8,100 patients will be pre-emptively tested for more than 40 clinically relevant PGx markers across 13 important pharmacogenes. For 4,050 patients assigned to the study group, their test results will be used by their healthcare providers to guide the dose and drug selection for over 40 commonly prescribed drugs. The other half of patients assigned to the control group will receive standard of care during the study period but will be provided with their test results after the study ends. Data on therapy outcome and other parameters collected during the study period will be analyzed.
Which institutions are participating in PREPARE?
The following institutions are participating in the PREPARE study:
| Country | Institution(s) | Leader |
| Netherlands | Leiden University Medical Center, Department of Clinical Pharmacy & Toxicology | Dr. Jesse J. Swen |
| Spain | San Cecilio University Hospital, Department of Pharmacy and Department of Cardiology | Dr. Cristina Lucía Davila Fajardo |
| Austria | Medical University of Vienna, Division of Nephrology and Dialysis | Prof. Gere Sunder-Plassmann |
| Greece | University of Patras, Department of Pharmacy | Prof. George P. Patrinos |
| Slovenia | University of Ljubljana | Prof. Vita Dolzan |
| UK | Royal Liverpool University Hospital | Prof. Sir Munir Pirmohamed |
| Italy | Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, National Cancer Institute in Aviano | Dr. Giuseppe Toffoli |
Where can I find more information about pharmacogenomics and the PREPARE study?
We are happy we could pique your interest. If you want to find out more about the PREPARE study, please feel free to have a look at our FAQ section. For questions concerning your participation in PREPARE, please refer to your local study team. If you wish to learn more about pharmacogenomics and its clinical applications, please find some resources in our download section.