Pharmacogenomics

noun (usually treated as singular)

/ˌfɑːrməkoʊdʒɪˈnɒmɪks/

The branch of genomics that studies how an individual's genetic makeup influences their response to pharmaceutical drugs, enabling the selection of optimal drug types and dosages tailored to a patient's genotype — the foundation of personalised or precision medicine.

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

As India advances its precision-medicine agenda under the Genome India Project, the integration of pharmacogenomics into public health care could drastically reduce adverse drug reactions and wasteful expenditure, though it simultaneously raises pressing questions of genetic data privacy and equitable access.

Synonyms

pharmacogeneticsprecision medicinepersonalised medicinegenomic medicineindividualised therapeutics

Antonyms

one-size-fits-all medicineempirical prescribingstandardised therapy

🌱 Word Family

pharmacogenomic (adj), pharmacogenomicist (n), pharmacogenetics (n), pharmacogenetic (adj)

🔡 Root

Greek pharmakon = drug; genos = race, kind; -omics = comprehensive study suffix; portmanteau coined late 1990s

📜 Etymology

A portmanteau of pharmacology (from Greek pharmakon, "drug") and genomics (from Greek genos, "race, kind" + the -omics suffix denoting comprehensive study); the field emerged in the late 1990s as the Human Genome Project made large-scale genetic analysis feasible.

🧠 Memory Hook

Break it as PHARMACO (drug) + GENOMICS (genes): "your GENES decide which PHARMACy drug works for you" -- medicine matched to your DNA.

🔬 Science & Technology 📖 Seen in: Health Technology & Medical Devices — ...

Tip: press Alt+S to hear pronunciation