Pharmacogenetics and ethnically targeted therapies

4 5 The study found that BiDil (a fixed dose of isosorbide dinitrate and hydralazine, designed to restore low or depleted nitric oxide concentrations to the blood) combined with standard therapy for heart failure reduced mortality by 43% among black patients. 5 Hailed by the media as the first ethni...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMJ 2005-05, Vol.330 (7499), p.1036-1037
Main Authors: Rahemtulla, Taslin, Bhopal, Raj
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
Bioethics
Biology
Continental Population Groups
Drug Combinations
Ethnicity
Genetics
Heart failure
Humans
Hydralazine
Isosorbide Dinitrate
Mortality
Pharmaceuticals
Pharmacogenetics
Race
Racial differences
Researchers
Substance abuse treatment
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Summary:4 5 The study found that BiDil (a fixed dose of isosorbide dinitrate and hydralazine, designed to restore low or depleted nitric oxide concentrations to the blood) combined with standard therapy for heart failure reduced mortality by 43% among black patients. 5 Hailed by the media as the first ethnic drug, BiDil is reported to be on the way to becoming the first drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat heart failure in African-American patients only. 6 The major implication of BiDil is that differential responses to treatment between racial groups, defined by using ostensibly social categories (here, patients self reported to be African-Americans), are attributed primarily to genetic differences.
ISSN:0959-8138
0959-8146
1468-5833
1756-1833
DOI:10.1136/bmj.330.7499.1036