{"id":18710,"date":"2020-06-17T00:22:43","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T04:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/Life-Insurance-Blog\/gsc-announces-positive-results-from-pharmacogenomic-study\/"},"modified":"2020-06-17T00:22:43","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T04:22:43","slug":"gsc-announces-positive-results-from-pharmacogenomic-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2020\/06\/17\/gsc-announces-positive-results-from-pharmacogenomic-study\/","title":{"rendered":"GSC announces positive results from pharmacogenomic study"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-res.keymedia.com\/cms\/images\/ca\/110\/0348_637279645523944426.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p>Green Shield Canada and HBM+, its health benefit managements solutions division, have announced the high-level results of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lifehealthpro.ca\/news\/green-shield-canada-announces-pharmacogenomics-investment-329950.aspx\">a previously announced pharmacogenomics clinical trial study<\/a> examining whether drug treatment can be improved using information about a person\u2019s genetic profile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe undertook this study because there were substantial gaps in knowledge regarding the downstream impact of pharmacogenomic testing on patients, but the results confirm that it can be a difference-maker for those suffering with major mental health conditions,\u201d said David Willows, GSC\u2019s EVP, Digital, Innovation and Brand Experience.<\/p>\n<p>The study was a single-blinded randomized controlled trial, which followed over 200 outpatients diagnosed with major mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.<\/p>\n<p>Each participant was randomly sorted into either a control group, where drug optimization was conducted purely based on a pharmacist\u2019s clinical judgment, or an experimental group where a pharmacist administered pharmacogenetics-guided treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Validated psychiatric instruments \u2013 including the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) \u2013 were used to evaluate patient response.<\/p>\n<p>Over a six-month trial period, participants in the pharmacogenomics-guided cohort reported significantly greater improvements. Compared to the control group, they showed better recovery with respect to depression severity (36% improvement from baseline for the pharmacogenomics-guided group vs. 16% for the control group), anxiety (41% vs. 23%), and disability (44% vs. 18%).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMoving forward, the study data presents a compelling picture of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lifehealthpro.ca\/news\/ssq-insurance-enhances-group-offering-with-pharmacogenetic-testing-305957.aspx\">the important role that pharmacogenomics can play<\/a> in optimizing drug therapy and helping pharmacists and physicians to improve patient health,\u201d Willows said.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lifehealthpro.ca\/news\/gsc-announces-positive-results-from-pharmacogenomic-study-330592.aspx\">Read the original article at https:\/\/www.lifehealthpro.ca\/rss\/ <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Green Shield Canada and HBM+, its health benefit managements solutions division, have announced the high-level results of a previously announced pharmacogenomics clinical trial study examining whether drug treatment can be improved using information about&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18710"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/578"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}