March 31, 2011
Greece is the latest nation to join the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Pharmacogenomics for Every Nation Initiative, an effort that seeks to help more than 100 countries make better medication choices based on the unique characteristics of their people.
The Golden Helix Institute of Biomedical Research in Athens will work with the UNC Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy to expand PGENI efforts in the eastern part of Europe. PGENI works to integrate genetic risk data for an individual country and World Health Organization essential-medicine recommendations into public-health decision making without placing an extra burden on health-care funding and technology infrastructure. In addition to Greece, PGENI has regional centers in Brazil, Jordan, South Africa, India, China, Mexico, and Ghana, and is active in more than 100 countries.
“We are very proud to join this initiative and for being able to contribute to this interesting project,” said George P. Patrinos, PhD, assistant professor of the University of Patras in Greece and a member of the Golden Helix Institute International Scientific Advisory Council, the coordinating entity of PGENI activities in Europe. “So far, we have seen a very positive feedback from the countries who have already agreed to participate, namely Greece, Serbia, Malta, Poland, Georgia, and we expect several others to join soon.”
It is becoming generally understood that drug response and drug-related toxicity vary widely among patients suffering from common diseases, said Howard McLeod, PharmD, director of IPIT and the principal investigator and leader of PGENI. The safety and efficacy data from one population is often not relevant to all populations. The PGENI’s strategy is to integrate genetic risk data for an individual country and WHO essential medicine recommendations into public-health decision making without placing an extra burden on sparse health-care funds and technology infrastructure.
“We are extremely pleased by the enthusiasm and talent that the Golden Helix team and Dr. George Patrinos bring to this initiative,” McLeod said. “We are encouraged by their leadership in coordinating activities to advance drug safety and rational drug selection for eastern European countries.”
About the Golden Helix Institute of Biomedical Research
Established in 2003, the Golden Helix Institute of Biomedical Research is an international nonprofit scientific organization with interdisciplinary research and educational activities in the field of genome medicine in Europe, Asia and Latin America. The activities of the Golden Helix Institute of Biomedical Research are supervised by an international scientific advisory council, consisting of world leaders in the field of translational medicine.
The Golden Helix Institute of Biomedical Research activities are focused on two main areas, research and education. The Institute organizes high profile scientific symposia in the field of personalized medicine, namely the Golden Helix Symposia® but also other educational activities, which are scientific conferences in concert with other scientific societies to achieve knowledge transfer to society. Furthermore, the Golden Helix Institute organizes the Golden Helix Pharmacogenomics Days, an educational event that is organized in major cities with large academic hospitals. Also, the Golden Helix Institute is involved in scientific collaborative projects in the field of translational research. Apart from the role of the Golden Helix Institute as the European Regional Center of the Pharmacogenomics for Every Nation Initiative, it has actively participated to develop the Golden Helix Server, where a number of national and ethnic genetic databasesand related projects that record the incidence of genetic diseases and the corresponding mutation spectrum in various populations and ethnic groups, are hosted. These research activities are financially supported by national and European research grants. For more information, please visit: http://www.goldenhelix.org.
About the UNC Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy
IPIT is an initiative the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in collaboration with the UNC School of Medicine, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, and the School of Nursing with substantial support from the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Carolina Center for Genome Sciences. Leadership and multidisciplinary projects are fostered by the creation of contiguous office and laboratory space that bolster collaborations and the development of comprehensive research investigations and treatment tools.
The mission of IPIT is to employ an interdisciplinary approach to tailor therapies and enable the delivery of individualized medical practice. IPIT also offers the services of facilities in molecular genomics, cellular phenotyping, and pharmacoinformatics to add to the excellent core facilities already existing at UNC. For more information, please visit:http://ipit.unc.edu/.
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