Talk:Pharmacogenetics

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I thought a distinct pharmacogenetics page justified because of different emphasis of pharmacogenomics/genetics. May be misled by personal interest in topic - expect to be voted down if so. Page probably needs science compacted, some more CYP information and a brief discussion of the ethical and social intricacies.

[edit] More science please, this is a BIG subject!

I think the science content is about right - it certainly doesn't need condensing further, it could go into a great deal more detail to be honest.

There are at least 200 ADME genes (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion) which cause variation in response to drugs in humans and we really are only just beginning to understand which ones (and which variations) contribute the most to those differences. The sequencing of the genome was only the beginning - the next stage is identifying all of the SNPs which make each one of us different (see HapMap project which is already linked from this article). When HapMap Phase 2 is complete (end of 2005?), we should have a fairly comprehensive list of about 5 million SNPs which will represent all of the common variations (>5% prevalence) which occur in the human population and a large percentage of the rare ones too. Unfortunately, there are many other differences in our genomes besides SNPs. Our genomes are riddled with insertion/deletions (INDELS) as well as larger scale deletions, duplications and rearrangements, all of which might affect drug response. Most are probably irrelevant but it is going to be a difficult task to identify the ones which are really important. I have great hope for pharmacogenetics (or PGx, as it's called in the Pharmaceutical industry) but I have read a lot of hype about it in recent years which might give people the impression that 'personalised medicine' is on the doorstep. I do think it's coming but it is going to be a slow, incremental process of change.

What is the future of this research? Where are we going with it and what can we say about the ethical/racial factors associated with this? Perhaps discuss marketing and that new drug, BiDil that is supposed to be just for African Americans.