ABSTRACT
Personalized medicine promises to deliver better healthcare that is targeted to patients' individual needs and genomes. This chapter discusses some public views on the genomic knowledge claims around personalized medicine, in the context of wider developments in new genetics and in relation to issues of accountability and trust. Significant research and resources are currently committed to conducting clinical trials with a view to validating pharmacogenetics and its cost-effectiveness within the UK National Health System. While a number of reports have looked at the possible impacts of pharmacogenetics, and others have highlighted some of the possible ethical concerns, little attention is generally paid to accessing public views and priorities on the topic. The qualitative research conducted and presented in the chapter argues for an approach that takes into account that technologies such as pharmacogenetics are not developed in a vacuum.
