Inheritance and Drug Response

He promise of pharmacogenetics, the study of the role of in heritance in the individual variation in drug response, lies in its potential to identify the right drug and dose for each patient. Even though individual differences in drug response can result from the effects of age, sex, disease, or drug interactions, genetic factors also influence both the efficacy of a drug and the likelihood of an adverse reaction. 1-3 This article briefly reviews concepts that underlie the emerging fields of pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics, with an emphasis on the pharmacogenetics of drug metabolism. Although only a few examples will be provided to illustrate concepts and to demonstrate the potential contribution of…