FDA: Need more clarity on genomics of clot drug I think this is a good sign that some rationality is present at FDA. The story is that FDA is asking the manufacturer of a popular clot-reducing medicine Plavix for more information. Seems the efficacy data is not as robust as it should be and the FDA has reason to suspect that the reason is patient hereditary variability in drug metabolism. This is shaping up to be the year of pharmacogenomics but progress is slow and limited to certain drugs.

Does the evidence support routinely testing patients for CYP2D6 polymorphisms if they are planned for tamoxifen treatment? We know that "poor metabolizers" include those with certain characteristic polymorphisms in the CYP2D6 gene. We now have commercially available testing to profile patients in advance of planned tamoxifen use and clinicians are starting to ask whether such testing is routinely indicated.

Myriad: please stick to genomics BRCA-testing company strikes out in Alzheimer's Disease