Perhaps your doctor thinks you should join the millions of people who’ve taken Plavix, a prescription medicine that helps prevent blood clots. But will it be effective for you? Or will another medication you are considering cause serious side effects? Starting a new medication can be a bit of a guessing game, with problems discovered only after the fact.
But your genetic makeup has a lot to say about how you respond to certain medications.
Now, a new type of genetic result from Navigenics can help you take even stronger strides towards a healthier future, by helping you understand which medications work best for you.
Your genetic code holds important information on how you respond to particular medications, and our new results help reveal it. The new Medications feature of the Navigenics service analyzes your genetic responses to 12 prescription drugs. These include everything from common medications, such as drugs designed to lower cholesterol or prevent blood clots, to more specialized drugs used to treat cancer or epilepsy. (See our complete list of medications.)
Plavix®, a prescription drug that helps prevent and treat blood clots, is one of the world’s top-selling medications. According to its manufacturer, doctors have prescribed it to more than 100 million people.Yet, genetics shows, popularity doesn’t always mean that a drug works for everyone.