hear a lot about pharmacogenetics

You're going to hear a lot about pharmacogenetics...how an individual's genetic profile affects their response to drugs.

For example, one in 14 Caucasian patients doesn't benefit from codeine...because they lack the gene for the enzyme that converts codeine to its active metabolite, morphine.

A genetic test is used to identify breast cancer patients who might benefit from Herceptin...because it only works for tumors that overproduce the HER2 protein.