Mega Doctor News
Edinburg, TX – Patients undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) or stent placement, after a stroke or heart attack require treatment that would reduce the risk of ischemic events without increasing the risk of bleeding. In addition to Aspirin, Plavix (Clopidogrel) is the most commonly used drug for this purpose and has been shown to reduce the risk of acute cardiac events and mortality. To be effective, Plavix has to be activated in the liver, but some people have defective process thus reducing its therapeutic value.
DHR Health and DHR Health Institute for Research & Development are working with Cipherome, Inc., to use their genetic technology to determine if a patient undergoing PCI for coronary events has an intact pathway to metabolize Plavix. Over 90 patients have already been recruited in this study and a total of 350 patients will be recruited in the next few months.
As the first gene-based study to be piloted in the Rio Grande Valley, Dr. Jane Chiang, chief medical officer and Jose Estabil, chief business officer at Cipherome, Inc., visited with DHR Health and DHR Health Institute for Research and Development leadership to discuss the value of this personalized medicine study that began back in December of 2020. Cipherome, Inc. preferred South Texas for this pilot project to better understand how the genetic differences in Hispanic/Latino patients relate to the effectiveness and safety of medications used to treat them.
“The use of this technology will allow the physicians at DHR Health to predict how a patient undergoing PCI will respond to Plavix therapy based on that patient’s genetic makeup” said Dr. Sohail Rao, president and chief executive officer at DHR Health Institute for Research and Development. “This study continues to build on the DHR Health vision to practice advanced medicine and to bring the most innovative clinical care to the community”.
For more information on research studies, please contact Dr. Sohail Rao, president and chief executive officer at DHR Health Institute for Research and Development at (956) 362-2387 or visit www.dhrresearch.org.
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