ABSTRACT
This chapter defines ‘pharmacoG’ (a combined term for both pharmacogenomics and pharmocogenetics), providing in Section one a narrative of the science and the associated products and promises. ‘PharmacoG’ is defined as a ‘hybrid’ techno-science involving many different publics including assemblages of governance, science and industry. Section two introduces the ‘bioeconomy’, namely the economic framework within which pharmacoG is evolving, focusing on how concepts and emergent issues are being framed, and engaged with, by civil society prime movers. While some prime movers such as patient groups are happy to support ‘big pharma’ in their quest for pharmacoG-related cures, others are voicing concerns over issues such as access, ownership (intellectual property) and identity. A range of prime movers are identifying how the bio-economic agenda impacts not only on product development and delivery, but on the setting of global health agendas.
Medical science is now interested to understand how the function and expression of a specific gene, or set of genes, which code for the creation of useful proteins in the body, can play a role in the manifestation of a specific disease or condition.1 The use of drugs to regulate gene expression is the field of pharmacogenetics/omics. The terminology is fuzzy, even within the scientific community:
