ABSTRACT
Genetic diversity contributes to both disease susceptibility and variability in response to
drug therapy. Pharmacogenomics is a discipline focused on examining the genetic basis
for individual variations in response to therapeutics (1-4). Although the task of develop-
ing individualized medicines tailored to patient’s genotypes poses a major scientific chal-
lenge, pharmacogenomics is already starting to influence how physicians/scientists design clinical trials and its impact on the practice of medicine is forthcoming (5,6). Recent evi-
dence suggests that most prescribed medications are effective in no more than 60% of the
individuals in whom they are used, and a significant number of patients also develop major
adverse effects. Better understanding of the genetic factors that regulate patient’s respon-
siveness to drugs is therefore needed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved and
allow for development of new therapeutic strategies that match each patient and the most
suitable drug (7-9).
