By Robert Frederick, KWMU
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kwmu/local-kwmu-499886.mp3
St. Louis, MO – Last week, a federal expert advisory panel urged that yet another class of drugs be given the "black box" warning. The black-box warning indicates that some patients could suffer severe complications or death as a result of taking the drugs.
Scientists say often those rare reactions are due in part to the patient's DNA, or genes. Studying how particular genes influence drug reactions is the science of pharmacogenetics.
In part one of our series on pharmacogenetics, KWMU's science reporter Robert Frederick takes a look at the known risks of medications and the promise of genetics to help reduce those risks.