If a drug is categorized as ‘red' but seems to be working well for me, should it be discontinued?

Prescribed medications should not be adjusted or discontinued without consulting with your healthcare provider. It is important to share the results of your Personalized Insights™ test with your healthcare providers, as they may lead to a change in your treatment. Whether or not your prescriber decides to continue or discontinue a “red” medication based on your Personalized Insights™ test results will depend on many factors, including the specific reason why the medication has been categorized as a “do not use”, whether suitable alternatives are available, as well as other important factors regarding your health status.

Some genetic variations can cause serious or even fatal effects. Adverse drug reactions account for up to 30% of hospitalizations and are the #4 cause of death in North America. If the reason the drug is categorized as “red” for you is due to risk of serious adverse events and suitable alternative medications are available, your prescriber may choose to discontinue the medication in favor of other drug options.

If a medication has been labelled “red” due to predicted lack of effectiveness (predicted lack of response), but no safety risks have been identified, and you feel the medication is working well for you, it is generally not recommended that you discontinue the medication. While it is possible that your response to a different medication labelled as “green” might be better, responses to medications are influenced by multiple factors and genetics are only one of these factors. Whether or not to switch medications is ultimately at the discretion of your physician, taking all factors (genetic and non-genetic) into consideration.