Focused on The Future of Innovation, Personalized Medicine and Genomics, the 21st Annual Healthcare Summit brought together global healthcare experts, policy makers and industry leaders, where pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing was highlighted as a game-changing technology that should be made a routine part of healthcare in Canada. 

The two day Summit included a panel discussion on PGx, featuring experts Kristine Ashcraft, Medical Affairs Director, Invitae, Dr. Bernard Esquivel, Chief Medical Officer, GenXys, Dr. Jehannine Austin, Professor of Medical Genetics, UBC, and Nancy White, CEO, Inagene Diagnostics Inc.

Some powerful statistics on the utility of pharmacogenetics were shared: 

“A patient dies every 2 minutes due to non-optimized medications (drugs that won’t work or will be unsafe based on an individual’s genetic profile)” (Kristine Ashcraft)

“Adverse drug events are the #4 cause of death, and cost Canadians $13.7 – 17.7 billion per year.” (Dr. Bernard Esquivel)

Learn more about the panel discussion here: link to press release 

Listen to the full panel presentation here: Link to Youtube video

Learn more about pharmacogenetics here.