Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Another Drug to Cross Off the Personalized Med List

A feature article in the August issue of Scientific American throws into question the concept of race-based drugs — how race is, or is not, meaningfully taken into account as a way to label genetic variation among individuals in clinical trials. Author Jonathan Kahn details the history of the making of BiDil, a drug intended to treat congestive heart failure only in African-Americans, into the first "ethnic drug." Kahn writes that the drug was FDA-approved under faulty evidence, and warns that most scientists don't see race as a useful way to predict drug response or genetic variation when it comes to creating more drugs like BiDil.

The Scan

Positive Framing of Genetic Studies Can Spark Mistrust Among Underrepresented Groups

Researchers in Human Genetics and Genomics Advances report that how researchers describe genomic studies may alienate potential participants.

Small Study of Gene Editing to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

In a Novartis-sponsored study in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that a CRISPR-Cas9-based treatment targeting promoters of genes encoding fetal hemoglobin could reduce disease symptoms.

Gut Microbiome Changes Appear in Infants Before They Develop Eczema, Study Finds

Researchers report in mSystems that infants experienced an enrichment in Clostridium sensu stricto 1 and Finegoldia and a depletion of Bacteroides before developing eczema.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Specificity Enhanced With Stem Cell Editing

A study in Nature suggests epitope editing in donor stem cells prior to bone marrow transplants can stave off toxicity when targeting acute myeloid leukemia with immunotherapy.