Abstract

This article reviews social, legal and ethical considerations of personalized medicine in research and development and service provision, with emphasis on Latin America by searching in Medline. The following social, legal and ethical issues involved in integrating pharmacogenetics into health care practicehave been identified: it is not clear how to translate the knowledge of using right concentrations of drugs for individuals into public health practice; the possibility of stigmatization and discrimination of individuals and groups; the pharmaceutical industry may be reluctant to develop medicines for small stratified groups of patients; inequalities may be exacerbated; health care providers will need to be well educated on genomics; debates about the right way of using informed consent; respect of privacy and safeguarding confidentiality; commercial use of genetic information; application of pharmacogenetic data in health care according to ethnic differences; regulatory measures may be necessary to encourage the development of medicines for small stratified groups according to genetic tests. Conclusion: however relevant pharmacogenetic studies may be for the development and use of pharmaceuticals in the prevention and treatment of disease, their widespread use and acceptance are limited by social, legal and ethical considerations. These are particularly acute and urgent in those areas of the world where people may not have easy access to medical technologies. Keywords: Ph