Opportunities, Barriers, and Strategies for Pharmacogenomics Implementation in Mauritius

AbstractPharmacogenomics (PGx) applies genetic insights to optimize drug therapy, offering a powerful tool to enhance medication safety and efficacy. Mauritius’s multiethnic population—comprising African, Indian, Chinese, and European ancestries—presents significant interindividual variability in drug response, underscoring the need for PGx integration. This paper explores current opportunities, barriers, and strategies for PGx implementation in Mauritius. Although PGx could improve management of conditions such as diabetes and reduce adverse drug reactions, progress is hindered by limited infrastructure, insufficient professional education, underrepresentation in global genomic databases, and sociocultural and ethical concerns. Lessons from comparable African settings highlight knowledge gaps, technological constraints, and economic limitations as key obstacles. To address these challenges, the manuscript proposes a phased clinical integration beginning with high-risk patients, investment in molecular diagnostic capacity, incorporation of PGx training into healthcare curricula, and the development of robust policy and ethical frameworks. Establishing a national PGx biobank and registry, leveraging existing pharmacovigilance systems, and fostering international research partnerships are also recommended. Proactive engagement of pharmacists—through patient counseling, adverse drug reaction monitoring, and clinical decision support—emerges as critical to advancing precision medicine. Strategic investment in these areas can enable Mauritius to harness the full potential of PGx, ensuring safer and more effective individualized healthcare.