In reply: In response to our recent perspective article, in which we discuss Australian responses to the pharmaceutical opioid problem,1 Polasek and colleagues enquire why we do not refer to the potential of pharmacogenomics in identifying patients at increased risk of opioid toxicity. We agree that precision pain medicine based on genomic profile is an interesting approach, but it was not discussed for several reasons.
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- 1. Campbell G, Lintzeris N, Gisev N, et al. Regulatory and other responses to the pharmaceutical opioid problem. Med J Aust 2019; 210: 6–8. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2019/210/1/regulatory-and-other-responses-pharmaceutical-opioid-problem
- 2. Ting S, Schug S. The pharmacogenomics of pain management: prospects for personalized medicine. J Pain Res 2016; 9: 49–56.
- 3. Royal College of Pathologists of Australia. Position statement: utilisation of pharmacogenetics in healthcare. Sydney: RCPA, 2018. http://www.rcpa.edu.au/Library/College-Policies/Position-Statements/Utilisation-of-pharmacogenetics-in-healthcare (viewed July 2019).
- 4. Comer SD, Dworkin RH, Strain EC. Medical devices to prevent opioid use disorder: innovative approaches to addressing the opioid crisis. JAMA 2019. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.4379. [Epub ahead of print]
- 5. Significant decrease in the amount of codeine supplied to Australians — TGA data analysis. Canberra: Therapeutic Goods Administration, 2019. https://www.tga.gov.au/media-release/significant-decrease-amount-codeine-supplied-australians (viewed July 2019).
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