A study involving 100,000 people shows that they all carry genetic variants that may influence their response to medicines
Pharmacogenomics studies how certain genes in a person – known as pharmacogenes – influence their response to medicines and the way in which the body metabolises them. One of the obstacles to its widespread adoption is the lack of diversity in research, as there is a scarcity of genetic data on groups of African and non-European descent. Now, a study published in Science Translational Medicine has analysed genetic and medication data from a diverse group of nearly 100,000 Americans participating in the All of Us medical initiative. 100 per cent had at least one variant in one of the 16 pharmacogenes, and 24.4 per cent had taken a medicine whose effect would be affected by one of those variants.
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