Children’s Mercy Kansas City First Pediatric Hospital in Missouri to Develop In-House Genetic Test to Personalize Patient Treatment Plans
Children’s Mercy Kansas City, a leading independent pediatric health organization, announced the launch of Kiddose™ PGx test that uses genetic information to tailor medications to each individual patient, ensuring safer and more effective treatments. Children’s Mercy is the first pediatric hospital in Missouri to offer in-house pharmacogenetic testing.
By analyzing how a patient’s genes affect responses to medications, Kiddose PGx aims to enhance medication efficacy, minimize potential side effects and improve treatment outcomes.
“This personalized approach is particularly beneficial in pediatric care, where individual responses to medications can vary significantly,” said Laura Ramsey, PhD, Section Chief for Individualized Therapeutics, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Children’s Mercy, and program co-lead. “By using pharmacogenetics, health care providers can make more informed decisions about medication choices, dosages, and treatment plans, ultimately leading to safer and more effective care for children.”
Pharmacogenetic testing has been part of clinical decision making at Children’s Mercy since 2014, but until now, tests had to be sent to external labs.
“We set out to create a way to do rapid testing in-house to provide answers to families more quickly, especially when time is of the essence,” said Joseph Alaimo, PhD, FACMG, Director, Clinical Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Children’s Mercy, and program co-lead. “When we encounter a child that isn’t responding to standard treatments, we can use this technology to identify genetic variants to gain a deeper understanding of how that patient may respond positively to other treatment plans.”
Combining pharmacogenetic test results with other information, such as a patient’s weight, age, overall health, lifestyle factors and family history, can help care teams determine the best medication approach. This application extends across various therapeutic areas, including:
- Patients with cancer: Personalized medication regimens based on genetic profiles can significantly impact treatment success and reduce adverse effects.
- Patients who have had or will have a transplant: Patients who have received organ transplants need precise medication management to prevent organ rejection by managing immunosuppressive therapy and supportive care medications.
- Children with chronic illnesses: Kids with conditions such as epilepsy or heart disease benefit because a better understanding of genetic factors can help clinicians more accurately dose medications for the best potential efficacy.
- Patients being treated for developmental or behavioral disorders: Children and adolescents receiving treatment for mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and ADHD can especially benefit from pharmacogenetic testing. Test results can help optimize medication choices and dosages to enhance efficacy and minimize side effects.
Stephani Stancil, PhD, APRN, Clinician Scientist, Divisions of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at Children’s Mercy was the first to order the new test.
“The launch of Kiddose PGx is a significant win for our patients and clinicians,” said Dr. Stancil. “This test translates the latest in research into high quality clinical care, providing targeted information with actionable results within days instead of weeks.”
Jonathan Wagner, DO, Division Director of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology and Pediatric Cardiologist, added it is a resource that will help improve outpatient and inpatient precision-based care: “Whether it be the child with cardiovascular disease in the critical care setting, to optimal dosing of therapeutics for oncology patients, to those with depression or anxiety needing expedited drug dosing decisions in the clinic, Kiddose PGx will be a powerful tool for clinicians in our region.”