the-BA : Genetics and the search for safer drugs

Thursday 9 February, Royal College of Physicians, Regents Park, London

Tests will soon be available to show how certain drugs are affected by your genes. The benefits from these tests include helping prevent patients suffering adverse reactions to the drugs and enabling the development of more personalised medicines. But the NHS and regulatory authorities will face a number of difficult decisions before making the tests and drugs available, decisions which may even impact on the traditional doctor-patient relationship. Who will decide whether the tests and medicines are made available? Will they be available to all, or just to those who can afford them? Should patients automatically have the right to receive – or even refuse – a test?

Speakers

Sir Michael Rawlins, National Institute for Clinical Excellence
Professor Robert Kerwin, Institute of Psychiatry
Dr Paul Martin, University of Nottingham
Chris Friend, Genetic Interest Group

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Sponsored by the Medical Research Council

A report of this forum was submitted to The Nuffield Council on Bioethics as part of their consultation on pharmacogenetics.

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