Monday, March 28, 2005

U.S. Agency Acts to Foster Personalized Drugs International Herald Tribune story, reprinted at MentalHelpNet - "The U.S. regulator of pharmaceuticals has taken a significant step toward the development of so-called personalized medicine, in which drugs would be tailored to individuals based on their genetic profiles. The regulator issued guidelines on Tuesday for pharmaceutical companies intended to encourage them to gather and submit information about how genetic variations affect the way people respond to their drugs. Drug companies have been somewhat reluctant to do this because of fears that the government might use the information to limit the market for their drugs, said officials with the regulator, the Food and Drug Administration. Drug makers have also worried that the agency might block approval if, say, a drug were shown in a laboratory test to activate a gene that might be involved in cancer..."