It is known that for most common diseases there are a number of medications from which to select therapy and usually a large individual variability in response to any given drug, ranging from no response to disease resolution. There is also the issue of under-representation of many countries in the development of medicines. Variation in DNA does help explain some of the differences in a persons response to a medication, but the cost of individual genetic testing will be prohibitive for many countries for the foreseeable future.
In 2010, the Golden Helix Foundation has initiated the Euro-PGx project and is coordinating the recruitment of cases from various European developing countries. The coordinator of the Euro-PGx project is Prof. George P. Patrinos and so far, the following countries have joined this initiative in Europe (in alphabetical order):
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | Coordinator: Sabina Semiz; University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Pharmacy, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
 Bulgaria | Coordinator: Radka Kaneva; Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, Molecular Medicine Center, Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria |
 Croatia | Coordinators: Jadranka Setric, Nada Bozina; University Hospital Centre, Zagreb, Croatia |
 Cyprus | Coordinator: Constantinos Deltas, Constantinos Voskarides; University of Cyprus, Nicosia |
 Czech Republic | Coordinator: Milan Macek; Charles University, Prague |
 Georgia | Coordinator: Alexander Lezhava, Javakhishvili; Tbilisi State University and Kipshidze University Hospital, Teimuraz Lezhava (Tbilisi State University), Nicholas Kipshidze (Kipshidze University Hospital), Tbilisi, Georgia |
 Germany | Coordinator: Ingolf Cascorbi; University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, University of Kiel, Kiel |
 Greece | Coordinator: George P. Patrinos; University of Patras, Patras |
 Hungary | Coordinator: Istvan Balogh; University of Debrecen, Hungary |
 Italy | Coordinator: Alessio Squassina, Maria del Zompo, University of Cagliari; Giuseppe Saglio, University of Torino; Giuseppe Novelli, University of Rome |
 Lithuania | Coordinator: Vaidutis Kucinskas; Vilnius University Hospital, Vilnius, Lithuania |
 Malta | Coordinators: Anthony Fenech, Godfrey Grech, Joseph Borg; University of Malta |
 The Netherlands | Coordinators: Ron van Schaik, Ron Mathijssen; Erasmus MC, Rotterdam |
 Poland | Coordinator: Beata Burzynska; Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw |
 Portugal | Coordinator: Rui Medeiros; Instituto Portugus de Oncologia, Porto |
 Romania | Coordinator: Maria Puiu, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babes” Timisoara |
 Russia | Coordinator: Elza Khusnutdinova; Genomics Department, Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Sci Center of RAS, Ufa, Russia |
 Serbia | Coordinator: Sonja Pavlovic; Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, Belgrade |
 Slovakia | Coordinator: Ludevit Kadasi; Comenius University, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia |
 Slovenia | Coordinator: Vita Dolzan; University of Ljubljana School of Medicine, Ljubljana |
 Spain | Coordinator: Miquel Taron; on behalf of the Spanish Society of Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics (SEFF) |
 Turkey | Coordinator: Nazli Basak; Boazii University, Istanbul |
 Ukraine | Coordinator: Halyna Makukh; Institute of Hereditary Pathology, Lviv, Ukraine |
Related publications
- Mitropoulos K, Johnson L, Vozikis A, Patrinos GP. 2011. Relevance of pharmacogenomics for developing countries in Europe. Drug Metabol Drug Interact,26(4):143-146.
