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Individual Genomes Instead of Race for Personalized Medicine
Author(s) -
Ng PC,
Zhao Q,
Levy S,
Strausberg RL,
Venter JC
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1038/clpt.2008.114
Subject(s) - personalized medicine , genomics , clinical pharmacology , race (biology) , genotyping , precision medicine , personal genomics , pharmacogenetics , drug response , pharmacogenomics , genome , computational biology , human genome , genetics , biology , medicine , drug , gene , bioinformatics , pharmacology , genotype , botany
The cost of sequencing and genotyping is aggressively decreasing, enabling pervasive personalized genomic screening for drug reactions. Drug‐metabolizing genes have been characterized sufficiently to enable practitioners to go beyond simplistic ethnic characterization and into the precisely targeted world of personal genomics. We examine six drug‐metabolizing genes in J. Craig Venter and James Watson, two Caucasian men whose genomes were recently sequenced. Their genetic differences underscore the importance of personalized genomics over a race‐based approach to medicine. To attain truly personalized medicine, the scientific community must aim to elucidate the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to drug reactions and not be satisfied with a simple race‐based approach. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2008); 84 , 3, 306–309 doi: 10.1038/clpt.2008.114