Pharmacogenetics in Africa, an Opportunity for Appropriate Drug Dosage Regimens: on the Road to Personalized Healthcare

• Published in: CPT: pharmacometrics and systems pharmacology Vol. 2; no. 5; pp. 1 - 4
• Main Authors: Masimirembwa, C, Hasler, JA
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-05-2013; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; AIDS; Consortia; Dehydrogenases; Drug administration; Drug dosages; Enzymes; Epidemics; Genomics; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Malaria; Metabolism; Metabolites; Nervous system; Peripheral neuropathy; Pharmaceutical industry; Polymorphism; Population; Principal components analysis; R&D; Research & development; Studies; Tuberculosis; United States > US; Southern Africa; Africa
• ISSN: 2163-8306; 2163-8306
• DOI: 10.1038/psp.2013.17

The modern human appeared in Africa around 200,000 years ago with subsequent later migrations to populate Europe, Asia, and North America.1 As humans adapted to various diets, diseases, climates, and so on, inherited traits emerged that gave rise to distinct population groups with physical and physiological differences, including the response to xenobiotic challenges (Figure 1). This Perspective highlights the interpopulation differences in response to drugs focusing on Africa and implications for global pharmacometric studies.
CPT: Pharmacometrics & Systems Pharmacology (2013) 2, e45; doi:10.1038/psp.2013.17; advance online publication 29 May 2013