Aq4 Ar

“Discuss the potential of tailoring patient-specific therapeutic regimens within the NHS in the light of novel prodrugs, clinical inhibitors and immunotherapy”.

Abstract

Pharmacogenomics is the study of how an individual’s genetic inheritance may affect the body’s response to drug treatments.
The Cytochrome P450 enzymes are at present one of the main lines of development with regards prodrugs, clinical inhibitors and immunotherapy.
AQ4N is a novel prodrug, by Novacea, is in clinical trials at the moment. AQ4N is an alkylaminoanthraquinone N-oxide a pro-drug of a topisomerase II inhibitor that is reductively metabolised, by CYP3A4, in hypoxic cells to activate AQ4, this reduced pro-drug demonstrates a 1000 fold increase in cytotoxic…show more content…
The primary objective of pharmacogenomics is to provide drugs that have being tailor-made for individuals according to their genetic make-up. The future holds the potential for screening individuals from birth to establish their predisposition to diseases including cancer 10. This screening will allow targeted monitoring of patients and allow earlier intervention to prevent and treat these diseases. Screening will also provide clinicians with the tools to more accurately diagnose the patient’s symptoms and hence provide the key to more tailored therapy creating personalised drug therapy with greater efficacy and safety. Identification of drug resistance would no longer be trial and error procedure eliminating adverse reactions. Dose optimisation would no longer be a lengthy process and this would ultimately lead to decreased health costs in the NHS.
The development of new cancer treatments is quickly evolving away from traditional practices of the last 25 years. This change is occurring not only at the technical level, but also conceptually as the human genome is unravelled and decades of research contribute to our understanding of the molecular complexity of this…show more content…
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