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PHARMACOGENETICS, RACE AND GLOBAL INJUSTICE 1
Author(s) -
HOLM SØREN
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
developing world bioethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.398
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 1471-8847
pISSN - 1471-8731
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-8847.2006.00173.x
Subject(s) - pharmacogenetics , race (biology) , injustice , medicine , psychology , biology , genetics , social psychology , genotype , gene , botany
This paper discusses the link between pharmacogenetics and race, and the global justice issues that the introduction of pharmacogenetics in pharmaceutical research and clinical practice will raise. First, it briefly outlines the likely impact of pharmacogenetics on pharmaceutical research and clinical practice within the next five to ten years and then explores the link between pharmacogenetic traits and ‘race’. It is shown that any link between apparent race and pharmacogenetics is problematic and that race cannot be used as a proxy for pharmacogenetic knowledge. The final section considers the implications of the development of pharmacogenetics for health care systems in low‐ and middle‐income countries.