The FDA yesterday linkurl:updated the label;http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01684.html on a widely used blood thinner, warfarin, to include information about how a patient's genes will linkurl:predict response;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/14864/ to the drug. Patients with certain genetic variations should receive a lower dose of the drug, according to the added text. Although a handful of drugs already note such genetic information on their labels, most of these are cancer drugs, which are used by a well-circumscribed set of patients. Warfarin is much more widely prescribed - about two million people start taking it each year, according to the FDA press release. Although the drug is notorious for its dosing difficulties, it has been around for more than 50 years, and doctors are used to managing dosing by trial and error. Though FDA commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach in the agency's statement calls the label change "one step in the FDA's commitment to linkurl:personalized medicine;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/18849/ ," what...
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