Personalized medicine: new perspectives - new ethics?

Personalised medicine: a critique on the future of health care

In recent years we have seen the emergence of "personalised medicine." This development can be seen as the logical product of reductionism in medical science in which disease is increasingly understood in molecular terms. Personalised medicine has flourished as a consequence of the application of neoliberal principles to health care, whereby a commercial and social need for personalised medicine has been created. More specifically, personalised medicine benefits from the ongoing commercialisation of the body and of genetic knowledge, the idea that health is defined by genetics, and the emphasis the state places on individual citizens as being "responsible for" their own health. In this paper I critique the emergence of personalised medicine by examining the ways in which it has already impacted upon health and health care delivery.

Quality of consent forms in pharmacogenetic studies: a survey of research ethics committees in Spain

OBJECTIVES

To know the quality of consent forms in pharmacogenetic studies submitted for evaluation to Research Ethics Committees (RECs).

METHODS

A mail survey to RECs in Spain was conducted; this survey contained questions on the frequency with which different items were included in the consent forms of pharmacogenetic studies reviewed by each REC.

RESULTS

A total of 40 out of 69 RECs that answered the questionnaire had reviewed pharmacogenetic studies. RECs considered that information was always or almost always comprehensible in approximately 50% of the forms received. Information regarding reimbursement of patients and commercial interests of the research was scarcely incorporated in the consent forms. In general, RECs estimated that aspects related to the use of samples and genetic information were included in the consent forms with a frequency lower than 50%. The quality of consent forms was considered to be lower by those RECs which had reviewed a higher number of pharmacogenetic studies.

CONCLUSION

Significant deficiencies have been found in the consent forms of pharmacogenetic studies reviewed by Spanish RECs.