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Medicine in black and white: BiDil®: race and the limits of evidence‐based medicine
Author(s) -
Ellison George
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
significance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 1740-9713
pISSN - 1740-9705
DOI - 10.1111/j.1740-9713.2006.00181.x
Subject(s) - food and drug administration , race (biology) , george (robot) , white (mutation) , african descent , medicine , alternative medicine , african american , drug , drug response , administration (probate law) , racial group , family medicine , demography , history , traditional medicine , political science , genealogy , law , pharmacology , sociology , ethnology , gender studies , biology , pathology , gene , art history , biochemistry
When the US Food and Drug Administration licensed the drug BiDil® in June 2005 it was hailed as a significant step towards “personalised prescribing”. This is because BiDil® had been patented, tested and approved for use by just one group of patients: those “of African descent”. George Ellison examines the statistical evidence that underpinned the development of BiDil® as a “racial drug” and finds it less than satisfactory.