One in ten patients (9.8%) had a genetic variation that warranted a \u201cred flag\u201d warning to switch treatment of a prescribed medicine, a national pharmacogenomics pilot in England has found.<\/p>\n
In addition, one in four patients overall had a medicine change as a result of the testing, as part of the NHS England PROGRESS pilot scheme for pharmacogenomic guided prescribing in primary care.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0PROGRESS trial\u00a0began in June 2023, initially across ten practices<\/a> in north-west England, then expanding across England<\/a> in February 2025.<\/p>\n Vicky Chaplin, senior clinical lead for the genomics unit at NHS England, told the British Oncology Pharmacy Association annual conference, held in London on 2 October 2026, that the PROGRESS scheme involved more than 1,325 patients in total who were started on a new medicine \u2014 the majority being prescribed a statin or a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).<\/p>\n After a genetic test, 91% of participants in the pilot were found to have a \u201cclinically relevant\u201d variation in one of the four key study genes (CYP2C19, CYP2D6, SLCO1B1, CYP2C9).<\/p>\n Three in ten patients (30.5%) received an \u201corange flag\u201d recommendation that advised a potential dose or titration switch.<\/p>\n This guidance was acted upon by 90% of healthcare professionals, resulting in a medication change for one in four study participants.<\/p>\n Chaplin told delegates that ongoing training for clinicians in genomics would need to be \u201cbuilt in\u201d in the future, \u201cbecause this area is going to keep advancing and we are going to all have to keep on top of it, so we can deliver the best care to our patients\u201d.<\/p>\n Chaplin also said that expanding the genomics medicine service to a genomic population health service would require \u201caccess to genomic testing\u2026 In much broader parts of the healthcare system so that patients can access that care\u2026 closer to home as part of routine services\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe prediction is [that] by 2035, up to 50% of healthcare decisions will involve a genomic result of some sort,\u201d she told delegates.<\/p>\n She suggested that genomic testing must be built into prescribing decisions \u201cso it becomes a routine part of medicines optimisation, like checking a patient\u2019s renal function.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is why we really do need everyone involved in research, because particularly in an area like genomics, where we\u2019re seeing all these innovations and the pace that we\u2019re going at, we can\u2019t have research over here, and then clinical practice over here, we are running side by side so that we can get this out to patients as quickly and as safely as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n