Prescription drugs and recommended doses are often adjusted according to a patients age, weight and gender. But subtler factors, including specific genes, can also determine how well a drug works or whether you should take it at all.

UCSF next week will start a genetic testing program for patients, believed to be the first of its kind in California and among only a handful in the United States, that helps tailor medications to patients based on their individual genetic makeup.

The move, announced by UCSF Tuesday, marks an advancement in precision medicine the treatment and prevention of disease personalized for each persons genes and environment at one of the Bay Areas leading academic medical centers and largest health care providers. UCSFs leaders hope it will help reduce adverse drug reactions, which nationwide lead to thousands of deaths each year, according to federal data.

The testing approach, known as pharmacogenetics or pharmacogenomics, will involve conducting a blood test that analyzes 15 genes that affect the bodys response to 56 drugs. These drugs have been found to cause adverse reactions, harmful side effects and other responses that render the medication less effective in patients who have certain variants in those 15 genes. The drugs include both oral medications and intravenous therapies, and treat a range of conditions such as cancer, high cholesterol, pain and psychiatric disorders.

Implementing pharmacogenetics will make a significant dent in reducing those deaths and adverse reactions, said UCSF Chief Genomics Officer Dr. Aleksandar Rajkovic, who co-leads the program.

Currently, some UCSF patients may get the genetic test if their doctor believes its relevant to their treatment plan and orders it. Under the new program, the test will be more systematically offered across many practice groups including oncology, pediatrics, cardiology and neurology. UCSFs electronic medical record system will flag patients who are taking one or more of the 56 drugs, alert their doctors of a potential drug-gene interaction and ask physicians to order the test.

Some people, for instance, have a genetic variant known to reduce the bodys ability to transport cholesterol-lowering medications to the liver to be metabolized and eliminated, which leads to a buildup of the drugs in the body that can cause muscle pain. And some people with psychiatric disorders either metabolize drugs too poorly and are at risk of experiencing side effects caused by toxic levels of the drug, or metabolize drugs too quickly to benefit from standard doses. The electronic system will notify doctors of these potential interactions.

The program will initially test only about 5,000patients a fraction of the 118,000 UCSF clients who are taking one or more of the 56 drugs in question. UCSF will bill patients insurance for the test, but not all insurers cover pharmacogenetic testing.

It cost UCSF about half a million dollars to roll out the program, and it pays for itself once the savings in drug costs and other costs of adverse side effects such as return visits to adjust dosing and hospitalizations are calculated, Rajkovic said.

A recent study published in the medical journal the Lancet found that pharmacogenetic testing at hospitals in seven European countries resulted in a 30% reduction in adverse drug reactions.

Pharmacogenetic testing is not widely deployed in the U.S. health care system. The handful of U.S. hospitals that have such testing programs are, like UCSF, affiliated with academic research institutions with the resources and expertise to advance the practice, such as the Mayo Clinic, St. Jude Childrens Hospital, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Chicago.

Pharmacist Bani Tamraz, who co-leads the UCSF pharmacogenomics program, urged California lawmakers recently to expand access to pharmacogenomic testing, testifying in support of a bill that would require the states public insurance plan for low-income residents, Medi-Cal, to cover it.

Were very proud of the fact that patients are going to have this little piece of information available to their providers to integrate in their care, he said. Drug responses are complex. Genetics is one of many factors. But now that information will be available to the doctor so they can go beyond their weight, height, age to make a decision on your medication.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Dr. Aleksandar Rajkovic.

Reach Catherine Ho: cho@sfchronicle.com

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