Genetic analyses of medication-use and implications for precision medicine

It is common that one medication is prescribed for several indications, and conversely that several medications are prescribed for the same indication, suggesting a complex biological network for disease risk and its relationship with pharmacological function. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of medication-use may contribute to understanding of disease etiology, generation of new leads relevant for drug discovery and quantify prospects for precision medicine. We conducted GWAS to profile self-reported medication-use from 23 categories in approximately 320,000 individuals from the UK Biobank. A total of 505 independent genetic loci that met stringent criteria for statistical significance were identified. We investigated the implications of these GWAS findings in relation to biological mechanism, drug target identification and genetic risk stratification of disease. Amongst the medication-associated genes were 16 known therapeutic-effect target genes for medications from 9 categories.