Model-based clinical utility of pharmacogenetic testing and its potential population impact on the use of essential medicines in Zimbabwe
Tinashe Adrian Mazhindu, Zedias Chikwambi, Kevin V. Grimes, Margaret Z. Borok, Ntokozo Ndlovu, Collen Masimirembwa · 2026
Read Model-based clinical utility of pharmacogenetic testing and its potential population impact on the use of essential medicines in Zimbabwe by Tinashe Adrian Mazhindu, Zedias Chikwambi, Kevin V. Grimes, Margaret Z. Borok, Ntokozo Ndlovu, Collen Masimirembwa (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13473732.txt.
Description
Mazhindu and colleagues modeled in 2026 how much pharmacogenetic testing could help patients in Zimbabwe. Such testing uses a person's genes to predict drug response, aiming to cut side effects and treatment failure. The team screened the national essential medicines list against international dosing guidelines and local genetic data.
Of 308 medicines screened, 30 carried usable genetic biomarkers, forming 38 gene-drug pairs, and all were classed as vital or essential. For a few pairs, testing very few patients could prevent one bad outcome, with numbers needed to genotype as low as five. For most pairs the number was far higher, over a thousand. Local drug labels often lacked genetic guidance, which the authors say Zimbabwe should fix alongside building local evidence.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Tinashe Adrian Mazhindu, Zedias Chikwambi, Kevin V. Grimes, Margaret Z. Borok, Ntokozo Ndlovu, Collen Masimirembwa |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 43 KB |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |