DHR Health Conducts Pilot Study of Cipherome Xentinel Lighthouse Genetics-Based Tool to Predict Risk of Medications After PCI

February 28, 2021—DHR Health Institute for Research & Development in Edinburg, Texas, announced a pilot study to evaluate the Xentinel Lighthouse (Cipherome, Inc.), a medical support tool designed to predict the risk of certain medications based on a patient’s genetics after undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

According to DHR Health, this information could allow doctors to customize a patient’s drug therapy—eg, aspirin and a P2Y12 inhibitor, such as clopidogrel, which are typically prescribed after PCI to reduce the risk of stent thrombosis. This pilot study will also evaluate the resulting savings in health care costs.

As noted in the announcement, Cipherome chose South Texas for this pilot project to better understand how the genetic differences in Hispanic/Latino patients relate to the effectiveness and safety of medications used to treat them.

This study is open to patients aged ≥ 18 years who have been prescribed clopidogrel, prasugrel, or ticagrelor after PCI with at least one stent placement. There are two study arms: one receiving clopidogrel but no genotyping to identify the patient’s genetic makeup and the other receiving genotype-guided therapy. Patients in the study will be evaluated for 1 year.

Herschl Silberman, MD, a cardiologist at DHR Health and a clinical research scientist with DHR Health Institute for Research & Development, commented on the study in the announcement.

“Most prior studies to anticipate major bleeding caused by this drug therapy have been based on data collected from Caucasian patients, have not been based on a patient’s individual risk profile, and have not been strong predictors of thrombosis risk,” stated Dr. Silberman. “This lack of effective clinical tools has resulted in high numbers of emergency room visits and patients being readmitted to the hospital with stent thrombosis, bleeding, and other complications.”

DHR Health further noted that in 2019, more than 1.5 million patients visited an emergency room or were hospitalized because of unexpected reactions to drug therapies. Additionally, 174,000 people in the United States died because of these adverse reactions. Recent studies show the possibility of an 80% reduction in 90-day complications in PCI by using a patient’s personalized genetic information, stated DHR Health.