PharmGKB (Pharmacogenomics Knowledgebase)

NIH-funded Stanford knowledgebase curating how human genetic variation alters drug metabolism, efficacy, and adverse drug reactions.

Specifications & Metrics

type: Pharmacogenomics & Clinical Dosing Guidelines
maintainer: Stanford University (funded by NIH / NIGMS as part of the Pharmacogenomics Research Network)
identifier format: PA<integer> accession IDs paired with dbSNP rsIDs, star alleles (e.g., CYP2D6*4), and RxNorm
license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
introduced: 2000

Managed at Stanford University since its inception in 2000 and funded by the NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), PharmGKB curates primary literature linking human germline and somatic variants to drug phenotypes.
PharmGKB assigns tiered levels of clinical evidence to variant–drug pairs and co-develops peer-reviewed dosing guidelines with the Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC) and the Dutch Pharmacogenetics Working Group (DPWG).
Curated pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic pathway diagrams trace how polymorphisms in cytochrome P450 enzymes, transporters, and target genes (such as VKORC1, CYP2C19, TPMT, and DPYD) govern drug clearance and toxicity.