Medco Health Solutions and FDA form research partnership

Under the partnership, Medco and the FDA will jointly develop research projects, programs and strategies in the area of pharmacogenomics, collectively aimed at improving patient health and quality in the delivery of care.

The research agreement extends to August 31, 2010, during which time Medco will deliver a series of reports to the FDA about pharmacogenomic testing. The topics to be studied will address the safety of prescription drugs, physician participation in pharmacogenomics testing, the usefulness of the tests in prescribing, and quantifying prescription information about drugs that have genetic information in their labels.

Medco’s reports will be derived from clinical settings, including one that will examine whether physicians are willing to change the dose of a prescription based on a genetic test result. Medco’s database of pharmacy claims will supply a large portion of the data to be used in the reports for the FDA.

Robert Epstein, chief medical officer of Medco, said: “An increasing number of drugs are including genetic information in their labels and we’re finding out how genes affect some drugs that have been widely used for generations. Studying this field can advance pharmacy care to remove some of the trial and error in how medications are prescribed.”