New genetic findings also may have a large impact on the pharmaceutical industry (Roses 2000). For many disorders, treatment with medications is currently a trial-and-error process in which a patient’s physician attempts to determine what particular medicine and dose is most effective for that patient. For example, substantial variability exists in patients’ responses to a given medication, with some patients failing to respond to medicines that are effective in other patients. Similarly, some patients experience severe adverse side effects from medications that are well tolerated by other patients. The new area of pharmacogenetics promises to make this trial-and-error process a thing of the past.
