Pharmacogenetics: Ethical Issues
Introduction
People often vary in their response to the same medicine. Some medicines are not effective for everyone; others may cause some patients to suffer adverse side-effects or even death. These different responses may be partly due to our different genetic make-up. Pharmacogenetics aims to improve the efficacy and also the safety of prescribing medicines. A Working Party has been established which will consider ethical issues raised by this rapidly developing area.
Pharmacogenetics, the study of the extent to which genetic differences influence the response of individuals to medicines, is still at an early stage in its development. Claims of personalised prescriptions may be unrealistic, but it is not too early to consider possible applications of this new area of study as well as ethical and legal issues which may arise.
The Working Party considered questions such as:
- What are the economic implications for provision of healthcare?
- Will the development of unprofitable, but desirable, medicines be neglected?
- Could the development of medicines for specific groups of the population exclude others?
- Do pharmacogenetic tests raise different issues from those raised by genetic tests concerned with disease?
- Will a new use of genetic data pose challenges to existing approaches to consent, privacy and confidentiality?
- Do pharmacogenetic tests differ from non-genetic tests, such as tests for cholesterol, which already have a role in treatment?
A Report was published in September 2003.
Last Updated Mon, 23 August 2004
