Pharmacogenetics: Mismatches between Policy and Practice

Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy 2011This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. ©2011 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.Pharmacogenetics aims to improve the safety and efficacy of existing drugs and drugs under development. This paper explores existing mismatches between policy and practice and illustrates, through the case of an off-patent drug, how the use of personalised medicine is being shaped by user-producer mechanisms and negotiated between different actors involved in the process of drug development and service delivery