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Pharmacogenetics: Opportunities and Challenges for Health Innovation

image of Pharmacogenetics: Opportunities and Challenges for Health Innovation

Pharmacogenetics helps us understand the relationship between an individual’s genetic make-up and the way medicines work for each person. This book reviews the use of pharmacogenetics across all stages of the health innovation cycle from research through to uptake by doctors and patients. It focuses on how to optimise the use of pharmacogenetics to deliver effective innovations for public health, and design policies that enhance their economic and social benefits. The book argues for large-scale studies to validate the biomarkers that underpin pharmacogenetics and policies to share the cost and risk of using  pharmacogenetics to improve the use of existing  medicines. Governments and others need to align regulatory, reimbursement and other incentives and work  with industry to measure better the impacts of pharmacogenetics. Health systems need to take positive steps to adapt to the use of pharmacogenetics and ensure that health professionals receive adequate training.

English

Conclusions

While research in pharmacogenetics is proceeding rapidly, at the start of 2009 there were only just over a dozen pharmacogeneticsbased products on the market. A number of scientific, economic and regulatory challenges need to be overcome if pharmacogenetics is to be taken up more widely within health-care systems. It is not yet clear to the private sector what business models will deliver acceptable returns on investment. In the public sector, governments have a number of levers which they could use to create an “enabling” environment for pharmacogenetics, while continuing to provide the necessary checks and balances.

English

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