Business Case for Establishing a Pharmacogenomics Testing Program for Carbamazepine Sensitivity at Children’s and Women’s Health Care Centre in Vancouver British Columbia Canada

This report was prepared for the molecular diagnostic laboratory at Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Vancouver B.C. and makes a business case for the introduction of a new genetic diagnostic test designed to detect patients that are susceptible to adverse reactions to the drug carbamazepine. This is a relatively small market requiring a maximum of 2,600 tests a year which could easily be integrated into the laboratory’s current operations. It is proposed that provision of the service be free to the patients of British Columbia at maximum added cost of $20,000 per year, which could be more than recovered by offering the test to the rest of Canada at a recommended $99 per test. At this time, this program is an ideal starting point for the laboratory to expand the scope of its services into safety pharmacogenetics and establish itself as a leader in this emerging field.