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The Science Is Ready. Pioneering Clinicians Are Leading the Way. Now Every Patient Deserves Precision Prescribing: Global PGx Day, May 20

by

NEWS PROVIDED BY
Mira Precision Health
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Apr. 30, 2026

A global coalition is uniting on May 20, 2026, to address the preventable medication harm that still claims 100,000+ lives annually in the U.S. alone, and to ensure pharmacogenomics (PGx) works for every patient, everywhere.

MASON, Ohio, Apr. 30, 2026 — Every year, adverse drug events claim an estimated 100,000 to 128,000 lives in the United States alone.1 They also drive more than 700,000 emergency department visits, 100,000 hospitalizations,2 and $5 billion in annual treatment costs3 — a significant share of it preventable. For decades, clinicians, researchers, and patient advocates around the world have been building the science and the clinical evidence to change that. Today, their work has a global platform.

Global Pharmacogenomics (PGx) Day, observed annually on May 20, is a rallying point for the growing international community committed to ensuring that pharmacogenomics — the science of how a person’s inherited genetic makeup influences their response to medication — reaches every patient who needs it. Founded by Mira Precision Health alongside Advocates for Universal DPD/DPYD Testing, Cincinnati Cancer Advisors, the Innovative Healthcare Institute, the Journal of Immunotherapy and Precision Oncology, and Oxford Cancer Biomarkers, the day is an open invitation: to clinicians, health systems, payers, advocates, and researchers who have been doing this work to come together, amplify it, and push it further.

Inaugural Global Webinar: “Precision Prescribing for Every Patient: A Global Movement to Make PGx the Standard of Care”

To mark the first Global PGx Day, the founding coalition will host a free, open-access international webinar on May 20, 2026, 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. ET / 4:00–5:30 p.m. GMT / 8:00–9:30 p.m. GST. Speakers include:

  • Dr. Abdul Rahman Jazieh, MD, MPH, FASCO, FACP, Chief Medical Officer, Mira Precision Health
  • Karen Merritt, Patient Advocate, Advocates for Universal DPD/DPYD Testing
  • Prof. David Kerr, CBE, Emeritus Professor of Cancer Medicine, University of Oxford; CEO, Oxford Cancer Biomarkers
  • Catherine B. Oliver, PharmD, BCPS, CPGx, System Director, Clinical Pharmacy Services, Ochsner Health
  • Dr. James Stevenson, PharmD, Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Vice Chair, PGRN Implementation Working Group

The session concludes with a 15-30-minute moderated panel. Register free at GlobalPGxDay.org. Open to all.

The Science Behind Safer Prescribing

Pharmacogenomics (PGx) testing looks at a patient’s DNA to reveal how their body may respond to a medication — identifying potential gene-drug interactions that can lead to adverse reactions or minimal therapeutic response before the prescription is written. Large-scale implementation studies have shown that PGx-guided prescribing can reduce clinically relevant adverse drug reactions by approximately 30% compared to standard care.4 Critically, 90 to 95% of individuals carry at least one actionable pharmacogenomic variant,5 meaning this information is relevant not for rare outliers, but for nearly every patient.

Pharmacogenomic is relevant for medications in more than 15 therapeutic areas — from oncology, cardiology, and mental health to infectious disease, pain management, and dermatology — making its potential impact on global medication safety both broad and urgent.

A core priority of the Global PGx Day initiative is expanding equitable access to pharmacogenomic testing across all patient populations. This includes advancing reimbursement coverage by payers, accelerating workflow integration into health system prescribing pathways, and broadening the genetic variant coverage that makes PGx testing clinically meaningful for patients of all ethnic backgrounds, ensuring that the benefits of precision medicine are not limited by ancestry.

A Clear and Urgent Example: DPYD and Fluoropyrimidine Chemotherapy

Among the most compelling PGx use cases is DPYD testing prior to fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy — including 5-FU and capecitabine, among the most widely used cancer drugs in the world. Patients carrying DPYD variants that reduce DPD enzyme activity face significantly elevated toxicity risk from standard dosing, with severe and potentially life-threatening toxic reactions occurring often from the first dose.6

In early 2026, the FDA strengthened its black box warning to fluoropyrimidine labeling, explicitly recommending that patients be tested for DPYD genetic variants prior to initiating capecitabine or fluorouracil unless immediate treatment is necessary.7 The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®), Colon Cancer, 2026, reflect that same standard, citing the FDA black box warning directly.8 Together, these updates represent a clear and unified signal from the regulatory and clinical guidance community and a vindication of the advocates, researchers, and clinicians who have championed preemptive DPYD testing for years.

“PGx testing is not a niche add-on — it is a front-line patient safety strategy. We now have landmark evidence, regulatory momentum, and clinical guidelines converging at the same moment — the result of tireless work by clinicians and advocates around the world. Global PGx Day is our opportunity to unite that community and translate decades of progress into action, at scale, for patients everywhere.”

— Abdul Rahman Jazieh, MD, MPH, FASCO, FACP, Chief Medical Officer, Mira Precision Health

Global PGx Day Mission

The mission of Global PGx Day is simple and urgent: to reduce preventable medication harm globally by integrating pharmacogenomics into clinical care and health systems worldwide. The path there runs through five pillars of precision prescribing:

  • Right Patient — identifying who will benefit from testing
  • Right Test — selecting the appropriate test with meaningful gene and variant coverage for every patient
  • Right Drug — matching treatment to individual metabolizer profile
  • Right Dose — adjusting dose based on genetic risk before treatment begins
  • Right Monitoring — ensuring ongoing vigilance for those at elevated risk

Founding Partners

Global PGx Day is supported by a founding coalition of clinical, academic, advocacy, and publishing organizations (in alphabetical order):

  • Advocates for Universal DPD/DPYD Testing (test4dpd.org) — a patient advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring every patient receives DPYD testing before fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy
  • Cincinnati Cancer Advisors (cincinnaticanceradvisors.org) — a clinical oncology advisory organization dedicated to improving cancer outcomes through personalized care
  • Innovative Healthcare Institute (innovativehci.com) — empowering professionals, accelerating ideas, and translating knowledge into tangible impact, because advancing careers builds healthier communities
  • Journal of Immunotherapy and Precision Oncology (innovationsjournals-jipo.kglmeridian.com) — a peer-reviewed publication at the intersection of immunotherapy and precision oncology
  • Mira Precision Health (miraprecision.com) — a global precision health company developing pharmacogenomic testing solutions designed to work for every patient, everywhere
  • Oxford Cancer Biomarkers (oxfordbio.com/) — founded by internationally renowned University of Oxford cancer professors, Nick La Thangue and David Kerr to revolutionise cancer clinical decision medicine using ground-breaking biomarker technology

Help Shape the Day: Invitation to Partner Organizations

If your organization has been working to advance PGx — in the clinic, the lab, the classroom, or the halls of policy — Global PGx Day was built with you in mind. The founding partners are committed to building this initiative in genuine collaboration with organizations that have been advancing PGx for years, and who understand better than anyone what it will take to make precision prescribing the true standard of care.

Participating organizations are invited to share awareness content with their audiences on May 20, join the inaugural webinar, and take an active role in shaping how Global PGx Day grows in the years ahead. To get involved, visit GlobalPGxDay.org or contact the organizing team directly at Mira Precision Health.

The Economic Case for Action

Beyond patient safety, the economic argument for broader PGx adoption is compelling. A typical adverse drug reaction-related hospitalization costs between $8,000 and $12,0009 — compared to a multigene PGx panel that typically runs $150 to $500 and whose results can be stored in the EHR and reused to inform future prescriptions. A systematic review of PGx economic evaluations found that 71% were cost-effective,10 and in the DPYD use case specifically, genotype-guided dosing produced an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio well within accepted thresholds.11 Preemptive testing, when results are available at the point of prescribing, is increasingly recognized as a cost-saving strategy — not merely a cost.

Media Contact

Travis Thompson Brand & User Experience Lead, Mira Precision Health tthompson@globalpgxday.org and www.miraprecision.com.

Organizations wishing to participate in Global PGx Day or inquire about partnership opportunities should visit GlobalPGxDay.org or contact Travis Thompson at the above address.

About Mira Precision Health

Mira Precision Health is a Mason, Ohio-based global precision health company committed to expanding the reach and clinical impact of pharmacogenomic testing. Built on Oxford University clinical validation and real-world implementation across U.K. and E.U. healthcare systems, Mira’s approach to PGx emphasizes broad variant coverage, actionable reporting, and seamless integration into clinical care pathways. For more information, visit www.miraprecision.com.

References

  1. Lazarou J, Pomeranz BH, Corey PN. Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients. JAMA. 1998;279(15):1200–1205.
  2. AHRQ PSNet. Medication Errors and Adverse Drug Events. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. December 15, 2024.
  3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. HHS Strategic Plan FY2014–2018. Cost of treating patients harmed by adverse drug events estimated as high as $5 billion annually.
  4. Swen JJ, et al. A 12-gene pharmacogenetic panel to prevent adverse drug reactions: an open-label, multicentre, controlled, cluster-randomised crossover implementation study (PREPARE). Lancet. 2023;401(10374):347–356.
  5. Van Driest SL, et al. Clinically actionable genotypes among 10,000 patients with preemptive pharmacogenomic testing. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2014;95(4):423–431. See also: Chanfreau-Coffinier C, et al. Projected prevalence of actionable pharmacogenomic variants and level A drugs prescribed among US veterans health administration pharmacy users. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(6):e196750.
  6. Lunenburg CATC, et al. Prospective DPYD genotyping to reduce fluoropyrimidine toxicity. Multiple systematic reviews and meta-analyses. See also: CPIC guideline for fluoropyrimidines and DPYD.
  7. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Safety labeling update for capecitabine and fluorouracil (5-FU) on risks associated with DPD deficiency. February 5, 2026.
  8. National Comprehensive Cancer Network. NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology: Colon Cancer. Version 2.2026.
  9. AHRQ PSNet. Medication Errors and Adverse Drug Events. December 15, 2024. See also: Morris SA, et al. Economic burden of adverse drug reactions. Clin Transl Sci. 2022;15:65–75.
  10. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Genomics and Precision Health: Summary of pharmacogenomic economic evaluations. See also: Verbelen M, et al. Pharmacogenomics J. 2017;17(2):170–176.
  11. DPYD cost-effectiveness analyses, multiple sources. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for DPYD-guided fluoropyrimidine dosing estimated at approximately $20,506 per QALY — well within commonly accepted thresholds.