Clinical trials should focus more on ethnicity
Companies in charge of clinical trials need to recruit patients actively
from different ethnic groups and routinely report ethnicity data in their
analyses, conclude the authors of a meta-analysis published online (BMJ
Online First,
5 May 2006).
Researchers aimed to investigate the susceptibility to adverse drug reactions
(ADRs) to cardiovascular drugs between different ethnic groups. They
found that for a select group of cardiovascular drugs there was a difference
in the risk of ADRs between the few ethnic groups analysed. However,
the researchers acknowledge that inconsistent classification of ethnic
group or reporting of ADRs limits the strength of their data.
The researchers suggest the need for further research into how an individual’s
ethnic group may impact on the benefit or harm of a particular medicine
because of genetic or environmental factors.
Genetic research Advances in pharmacogenomics do not mean that
information about race and ethnicity in clinical trials is no longer
required, according to a recent
article published in The Journal of Clinical Pharmacology (2006;46:401).
The author explains that this is because race and ethnicity are not measures
of genetic composition, and can capture aspects of behaviour, diet, environment,
culture and social status that are unrelated to a person’s genes.
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