Delivery of Pharmacogenetic Testing with or without Medication Therapy Management in a Community Pharmacy Setting

Abstract

Objective

The delivery of pharmacogenetic (PGx) testing has primarily been through clinical and hospital settings. We conducted a study to explore the feasibility of delivering PGx testing through community pharmacies, a less-studied setting.

Methods

We conducted a cluster randomized trial of community pharmacies in North Carolina through two approaches: the provision of PGx testing alone or PGx testing with medication therapy management (MTM).

Results

A total of 150 patient participants were enrolled at 17 pharmacies and reported high satisfaction with their testing experience. Participants in the PGx plus MTM arm were more likely to recall a higher number of results (p=0.04) and more likely to clearly understand their choices for prevention or early detection of side effects (p=0.01). A medication or dose change based on the PGx results was made for 8.7% of participants.

Conclusion

Limited differences were observed in the provision of PGx testing as a standalone test or combined with MTM. A limited number of treatment changes were made based on PGx test results. Patient acceptance of PGx testing offered through the community pharmacy was very high, but the addition of MTM did not impact patient-reported perceptions about PGx testing or medication adherence.

Keywords:

• pharmacy
• pharmacogenetic testing
• feasibility
• patient experience

Data Sharing Statement

The raw data set used for this study is offered by the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Acknowledgment

This study was funded by the US National Institutes of Health (R01GM081416).

Disclosure

Susanne B Haga reports grants from US National Institutes of Health, during the conduct of the study. Dr Deepak Voora reports grants from NIH, during the conduct of the study; personal fees from Optum, outside the submitted work. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.