Pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic studies - Impact on drug discovery and drug development

The topics discussed in this article are concerned with studying genomic polymorphism and identifying new therapeutic targets, the role of genetics in preclinical and clinical drug development, and cultural, regulatory and logistical aspects of the development of pharmacogenetics in France. The conclusions are that from a physiological, biochemical or genomic point of view, the study of human genetic polymorphism has obvious potential value for drug development, because it can help to identify new therapeutic targets, and to predict drug efficacy and tolerability more effectively. There are already several examples of the latter approach, which relies on studying the genetic variability of enzymes involved in drug metabolism, and that of the effector molecules of the pharmacological activity. Pharmacogenetics could eventually make it possible to personalise drug treatments, as methods for analysing genes are simplified and their cost reduced. To help attain this still far-off goal, certain recommendations have been proposed.