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- Apr 2, 2009
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Last June the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of BiDil, a combination heart drug, for use by African Americans. This is the first time a drug has been earmarked for a specific ethnic group. Now other pharmaceutical companies are following the example of NitroMed, BiDils maker, and seeking approval for medicines that appear to work in a certain groupusually after the drug has failed to show effectiveness in the general population (though BiDil wasnt tested for that). This advent of racialized medicine is a slippery slope for science and will inevitably lead to poor medical decisions.
The wider danger of racialized drugs is that we will lose sight of the social effects of race on physiology. Consider the finding that black Americans are more likely than whites to have hypertension. A biologist ignorant of sociology might blame a genetic difference. But we know that stress can cause hypertension and that stress may result from discrimination, living in unsafe neighborhoods and other societal factors. It seems reasonable to conclude that black people experience hypertension in great numbers at least in large part because of the stress of being black in America. In fact, when we look at those of African descent around the globe, we find some communities where hypertension rates are very low.
Medicine shouldnt be race-blind. But we need to study racial disparities in health without treating race as a biological category. Social and cultural factors are far more important.
Should there be different drugs for different races? - Proto Magazine - Massachusetts General Hospital
The wider danger of racialized drugs is that we will lose sight of the social effects of race on physiology. Consider the finding that black Americans are more likely than whites to have hypertension. A biologist ignorant of sociology might blame a genetic difference. But we know that stress can cause hypertension and that stress may result from discrimination, living in unsafe neighborhoods and other societal factors. It seems reasonable to conclude that black people experience hypertension in great numbers at least in large part because of the stress of being black in America. In fact, when we look at those of African descent around the globe, we find some communities where hypertension rates are very low.
Medicine shouldnt be race-blind. But we need to study racial disparities in health without treating race as a biological category. Social and cultural factors are far more important.
Should there be different drugs for different races? - Proto Magazine - Massachusetts General Hospital