Benefits to Health Care Providers

Health care providers will benefit from the results of genetic research, as well:

	Gene Testing

• Identification of susceptibility genes related to specific diseases will allow health care providers to predict more accurately an individual's risk of developing a specific disease. With this information, it may be possible to prevent or delay onset of the disease or to diagnose it and begin treatment more promptly if it occurs.

• Increased understanding of the underlying genetic and biochemical causes of disease may lead to the development of more accurate ways of diagnosing disease. Many conditions we now think of as one disease may have several distinct sub-types, stemming from different specific causes (we already know this to be true of high blood pressure and asthma, for example). Better diagnosis will contribute to more effective treatment.

	Safer Prescriptions

• Medicine Response Tests may increase the confidence of health care providers in writing prescriptions, especially for medicines that are known to cause serious side effects in a significant number of people. It will be possible in many cases to screen patients for their likely response before starting treatment with a particular medicine. In some cases, it may be possible for a medicine that would have been withdrawn from the marketplace because of a serious side effect in a small number of people to stay on the market, thus helping the majority of people who can take it safely.

• Screening for known gene differences that affect the breakdown of drugs will give health care providers the ability to adjust the dose of a medicine before prescribing it so that patients safely receive the most benefit from the medicines they use.

• The use of genomic techniques may result in the more rapid and efficient discovery and development of new medicines that are safe, effective and targeted at the underlying mechanisms of disease.

These benefits will likely result in better health for you and cost savings for the entire health care industry — a worthwhile investment!