Tailored medicine: whom will it fit? The ethics of patient and disease stratification.

Journal article

A key selling point of pharmacogenetics is the genetic stratification of either patients or diseases in order to target the prescribing of medicine. The hope is that genetically 'tailored' medicines will replace the current 'one-size-fits-all' paradigm of drug development and usage. This paper is concerned with the relationship between difference and justice in the use of pharmacogenetics. This new technology, which facilitates the identification and use of difference, has, we shall argue, th...

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Authors: Smart, A; Martin, P; Parker, M

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Bioethics
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 322-342
• Publication date: 2004-08-01
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8519.2004.00400.x
• EISSN: 1467-8519
• ISSN: 0269-9702
• Language: English
• Keywords: Stereotyping; Genotype; Genetics, Medical; Patient Selection; Drug Industry; Humans; Social Change; Research Subjects; Drug Design; Public Policy; Pharmacogenetics; Drug Therapy; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Clinical Trials as Topic; Social Justice; Continental Population Groups; Ethnic Groups; Genetics, Population