Pharmacogenetics: Opportunities for the All of Us Research Program and Other Large Data Sets to Advance the Field

Pharmacogenetic variation is common and an established driver of response for many drugs. There has been tremendous progress in pharmacogenetics knowledge over the last 30 years and in clinical implementation of that knowledge over the last 15 years. But there have also been many examples where translation has stalled because of the lack of available data sets for discovery or validation research. The recent availability of data from very large cohorts with linked genetic, electronic health record, and other data promises new opportunities to advance pharmacogenetics research. This review presents the stages from pharmacogenetics discovery to widespread clinical adoption using prominent gene-drug pairs that have been implemented into clinical practice as examples. We discuss the opportunities that the All of Us Research Program and other large biorepositories with genomic and linked electronic health record data present in advancing and accelerating the translation of pharmacogenetics into clinical practice.