Pharmacogenomic Microarray for Clinical Applications

A new microarray is designed to enable clinical diagnostic laboratories to identify certain naturally occurring variations, called polymorphisms, in two genes that play a major role in drug metabolism: CYP2D6 and CYP2C19.

These variations affect the rate at which an individual metabolizes drugs used to treat cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, depression, and other disorders. When considered with other contributing factors, these variations can help doctors select the best drug for a patient and set the right dose sooner while also avoiding drugs that may cause the patient to suffer serious adverse reactions.

Called the AmpliChip CYP 450, the microarray was developed by Roche (Basel, Switzerland) on the microarray platform of Affymetrix (Santa Clara, CA, USA). The CYP450 represents a diagnostic-quality tool that has the potential to address the serious and unpleasant side effects of medication and thereby improve both the success of therapy and the patient's quality of life.

"The launch of the AmpliChip CYP450 microarray represents an important milestone in Roche's development of the individualized medicine market,” said Heino von Prondzynski, head of Roche Diagnostics. Roche will sell the microarray initially as an analyte-specific reagent (ASR) for use by high-complexity laboratories performing CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 genotyping tests.





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