Abstract

Pharmacogenetics can be described as the study of individual genetic profiles in response to pharmaceuticals. Pharmacogenomics aims to use these pharmacogenetic data to optimize drug discovery and development. An important aim in pharmacogenetics is to detect genetic variants that contribute to variable effects of drugs and to develop DNA screening devices which can detect these variants in patients. Identification of susceptibility genes is thought to be important to determine who will be likely to respond to a given treatment and who will be prone to side-effects.Recently the pharmaceutical industry has taken a great interest in genetics research. It is thought that medicine can be revolutionized by unlocking important new targets for prevention, diagnosis and therapy. This is important because pharmaceutical companies need to develop new drugs to maintain growth. Therefore they seek co-operation with biotechnology firms, especially those which are developing databases or genetic screening devices . There are examples of significant single-gene effects on the action of common drugs, and currently the expectations of the pharmaceutical industry are high.They not only anticipate financial benefits for the industry, but also more efficacious and economical use of conventional pharmaceutical products in health care, with savings in health-care costs. Also insurers are interested in more effective or innovative drugs, as this can lead to savings in insurance. However, the question whether more specific drugs for smaller groups and fewer side-effects are more cost-effective than broad symptom-based drugs with the danger of side-effects for everyone has not yet been answered