From the very earliest times, disease
has struck fear into people. New diseases arise and cause havoc,
as the recent outbreak of SARS
shows only too clearly.
The ability to find and manufacture a medicine which has the right
effect in the right place is of vital importance in the fight against
disease. Think of the impact that antibiotics have had on infectious
diseases – illnesses that were life threatening
seventy years ago are treated easily with a course of antibiotics
today.
The pharmaceutical industry has responded to the work of the Human
Genome Project with great enthusiasm. Detailed knowledge of the
human genome is already making possible a number of potentially
exciting advances in different areas of medicine development. The
application of genetics is expected to produce more powerful medicines.
This is because medicines can be designed to target specific diseases,
or to respond to changes in the proteins or genetic material of
the cells. Knowing the human genome it will be easier to produce
medicines which affect pathogens or cancer cells but which do not
damage healthy body cells. In addition in the future it is hoped
medicines could be tailor-made to suit each of us as individuals.
Pharmacogenetics
If medicines can be designed to work with our individual
genetic makeup then they should work more effectively, in lower
doses, with fewer side effects. The new science of pharmacogenetics
has been developed to put together pharmaceutical expertise with
the new knowledge of the human genome.
 Research
has already shown that genetic factors have a marked effect on the
effectiveness of certain medicines. For example, medicines called
kappa opioids appear to be much more effective pain killers in women
than in men; pale skinned red haired women are more responsive to
common analgesics than anyone else; and ibuprofen has little or
no effect on pain relief in women during the second half of their
menstrual cycle.
More detailed knowledge of our individual genetics which will come
from the findings of the Human Genome Project is predicted to have
enormous benefits in terms of medicine development through pharmacogenetics.
But what are the possible benefits of
pharmacogenetics?
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