Over the past few months, a number of drugs have been under investigation to treat COVID-19 without well-established safety or data to support these claims. However, some of these unproven therapies may have underlying genetic reasons for not being effective and resulting in fatal adverse effects as found with hydroxychloroquine.

For our comprehensive coverage and latest updates on COVID-19 click here.

University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy faculty Pamala Jacobson and Melanie Nicol, and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellow Takuto Takahashi recently published a peer-reviewed study in Nature Genomic Medicine about how individualization with pharmacogenomicsthe study of how genes affect a person's response to drugsmay improve the efficiency and safety of these drugs.

"The application of pharmacogenomic tests can help eliminate fatal hypersensitivity for patients prescribed certain drugs," said Jacobson. "We asked the question if selecting a COVID-19 medication or the dose using an individual's genetic information could improve effectiveness or safety."