Assessing the views and opinions of psychiatric patients receiving genome-guided treatment within the scope of the PREPARE preemptive pharmacogenomics clinical study

George P Patrinos^1,2*MARGARITA-IOANNA KOUFAKI¹Maria-Theodora Pandi¹Maria Skokou¹Kariofyllis Karamperis¹Konstantinos Vasileiou¹Christina Mitropoulou³Marc S. Williams⁴

• ¹Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
• ²Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece
• ³United Arab Emirates University College of Science, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
• ⁴Geisinger Health, Danville, United States

Pharmacogenomics (PGx), an essential component of Personalized Medicine (PM), holds the potential to transform modern medical practice. While significant efforts have been made to enhance genomics education among healthcare professionals and explore the perspectives of various stakeholders, the understanding of patients' views on PGx remains relatively limited. Here, we present findings from a cohort of 201 patients with various psychiatric illnesses enrolled in the PREPARE prospective PGx study, aiming to investigate their opinions and perceptions regarding the clinical adoption of PGx. Although 84% of respondents demonstrated a low level of PGx awareness and available tests, 99.5% strongly agreed that PGx testing reduces the occurrence and severity of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and improves decision-making for prescribing the most appropriate medication. Furthermore, 42.45% of patients who had previously experienced an ADR were significantly more likely to accept a tailored treatment plan based on physician guidance (p<0.001), compared to 27.37% of those without ADRs. Collectively, our data highlights the need for enhanced patient education and awareness about PGx testing and reflects an overall positive patient attitude towards genome-guided therapeutics.