Medical Information

Pharmacogenetics testing offers support to your doctor, pharmacist and yourself to help make good clinical decisions about therapy. Individualized testing results can help guide the choice of drug and/or the dosing that may work best for you. Choosing the right drug and dose may improve the effectiveness of therapy and/or reduce side effects. Testing is done at home using mouth swabs that are sent directly to you. The self-collection process takes about 5 minutes and is very easy – it involves gently rolling a couple of cotton swabs similar to Q-tips around inside your cheek for a few seconds. Afterwards you mail the swabs in to the lab and wait for us to contact you.

All patients may benefit but individuals that may benefit most from testing include those taking multiple medications or with multiple medical conditions. In particular, the testing may provide a perspective for individuals experiencing side effects or not responding to therapy. It can also provide particularly good insights for individuals taking certain medications that have known genetic variability such as certain antidepressants and chemotherapy agents.

All medications are categorized into classes. Many drugs in a class are similar in makeup and are often handled by a patient’s body in a similar way. If your genes negatively affect how the medications in a class are handled by the body you may experience unnecessary side effects or a lack of effectiveness. The good news is that many times a specific illness can be treated with medications from two or more classes. Knowing how your genes deal with drugs of a class can help your doctor chose your therapies better.

Metabolism is driven by enzymes and the major superfamily of metabolizing enzymes is Cytochrome P450. In this family, the enzymes most common for the metabolism of most drugs are CYP3A4 and/or CYP2D6. However, our available testing can look at variations across different enzymes.

At Pharmacy.ca we can provide personalized prescribing consultations that evaluate multiple factors including your age, weight, lab results, allergies, other health conditions, medications, and your Pillcheck® genetic test results.

You can order your Pharmacogenetic testing kit by clicking the link and receive a $30 discount off the normal $599 price.

Please note upon clicking the link you will be directed to Pillcheck’s® website. Pillcheck® is a trusted direct supplier of the pharmacogenetics service and is independent of Pharmacy.ca. Customer service issues related to their website and services are handled directly by Pillcheck®.

1. Order Your Test

   • Order your test online from PillCheck Using Discount Code
   • After ordering you will receive an email with account activation link

2. Receive Pillcheck Kit

   • Within 3-5 days you will receive a Pillcheck Kit with collection instructions

3. Return Pillcheck Kit

   • Return the kit promptly to the lab following the instructions provided with the kit

4. Access Your Test Results

   • You will receive an email to securely access your report with out pharmacists summary

5. Discuss Your Report

   • You can discuss your results with your doctor or with one of our qualified pharmacists