Shutterstock.com
A pharmacogenomics trial, which has so far resulted in modified prescriptions for more than one-quarter of participants, is expanding across England.
Initially based in the North West of England, the PROGRESS trial began in June 2023 with more than 250 participants, the majority of whom were taking statins, antidepressants or proton pump inhibitors.
A press release from the NHS North West Genomic Medicine Service Alliance, issued on 5 February 2025, said that preliminary results of phase I show that 28% of participants received pharmacogenomic recommendations that led to changes in their prescriptions.
Under phase II, the programme will expand across areas including Greater Manchester, Blackpool, Liverpool, Southampton and Bedfordshire, with recruitment open until 31 December 2025.
The programme co-ordinators hope to recruit an extra 1,450 participants during this next phase.
The latest iteration of the programme will also include a tool that, according to the press release, will “integrate pharmacogenomic results directly into prescribing systems”, the press release said.
“[The ProgressRx tool] integrates into existing NHS clinical decision support systems, reducing the cognitive burden on prescribers while providing real-time, patient-specific guidance,” it added.
Commenting on the pilot scheme’s expansion, Dharmisha Chauhan, consultant pharmacist in genomic medicine at North Thames Genomic Medicine Service Alliance, said: “Pharmacogenetics is an additional tool which we can use to guide how we prescribe and use medicines safely. Currently, testing occurs predominantly within hospital settings but as pharmacogenetics expands to drugs we commonly prescribe, such as pain relief, statins and proton pump inhibitors, we need to understand how it can be adopted into primary care settings.
“PROGRESS aims to do just this and it is exciting to see the roll out of the second phase of the study, helping us to expand the project to different geographical areas which serve different patient populations.”
The expansion of the programme was initially reported by The Pharmaceutical Journal in November 2024, when Jessica Keen, pharmacy lead at NHS North West Genomic Medicine Service Alliance, told delegates at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Annual Conference: “We’ve got a couple of practices in Hampshire that have just opened, another one in Cambridgeshire, and we’re expanding around England, so that’s really exciting.”
In January 2024, it was reported that NHS England planned to create eight ‘genomic networks of excellence’, with £15m of funding allocated over the next two years.
