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Almost 90% of people would agree to pharmacogenomics testing to get the most effective medicine and reduce side effects, a survey conducted by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) has suggested.
Results of the survey, published in the journal QJM on 20 February 2025 and co-designed with Genomics England’s participant panel, found that 89% of respondents said they would complete a pharmacogenomics test.
The survey, run in collaboration with the National Centre for Social Research, as part of a study on public attitudes towards pharmacogenomics, surveyed 2,719 adults in the UK.
Respondents’ motivations for saying they would agree to a test included enhancing drug effectiveness (72%) and the reduction of adverse drug reaction risk (63%).
Nine in ten respondents (91%) also said they would like access to their own pharmacogenomics data, with 78% of respondents agreeing that the data should be available on the NHS app.
More than half (58%) of respondents thought that testing should be made available on the NHS to everyone, while 85% of respondents thought the NHS should offer testing to people with multimorbidity who are prescribed many medicines.
However, 93% of respondents said they had not encountered any patient-facing materials that explained pharmacogenomics.
When asked about their concerns over pharmacogenomic data, a small group of respondents were “fairly” (8%) or “very” (4%) worried about the idea, with their concerns centred around privacy of data and identity.
David Wright, professor of health services research and head of the School of Healthcare at the University of Leicester, said it is “great to see such a positive response from patients to the concept of pharmacogenomics”.
Wright added: “Qualitative evidence has identified a much larger range of patient concerns which need addressing at the point of pharmacogenomics service delivery.
“Pharmacogenomics is already adopted across the NHS for certain medicines but not for those used more widely, such as antidepressants and anticoagulants or platelet therapy. Whilst Holland, Norway and Scotland have either rolled out national pharmacogenomics services for such medicines or are currently rolling them out, England is far behind — the place where DNA was first described.”
“With up to one in four patients potentially benefitting from pharmacogenomics, it really should be offered through the NHS,” said Wright, adding that “I would like to see pharmacogenomics delivered through community pharmacies via the New Medicines Service, with patients made aware of the technology via this route”.
The question, Wright said “is not whether it can be done, as we know it can, but how to best deliver it to optimise patient engagement and outcomes. These questions are not currently being answered in England”.
Emma Magavern, study lead and National Institute for Health and Care Research clinical academic lecturer at QMUL’s Centre for Clinical Pharmacology and Precision Medicine, said the findings showed “widespread public support for personalising prescribing with genetic information and including this within NHS clinical care nationally, in partnership with patients and highlighting the key role of patient agency”.
Rich Scott, chief executive of Genomics England, said: “This is all vital information, as we develop the digital infrastructure and evidence on how routine use of pharmacogenomics could become a routine part of healthcare in the coming years and have a real impact on patient care.”
In February 2025, the PROGRESS pharmacogenomics trial, which initially ran in ten GP practices in the north west of England, began expanding across England.
The study — which began in June 2023 and is being led by the University of Manchester — is the first in the UK to introduce genetic testing before prescribing in primary care and will test the feasibility of rolling out pharmacogenomic testing for patients taking statins, antidepressants and proton pump inhibitors.
Initial results from the early stage of the trial showed that 28% of participants received pharmacogenomic recommendations that led to changes in their prescriptions.
