Unfinished Race: Race, Genes, and the Future of Medicine

August 28, 2008

In the stone age of genetics, we’ve often had to settle for racial medicine, such as BiDil, the heart-disease drug marketed to blacks. But technology and economics are beginning to carry us beyond that phase. “The costs of whole-genome sequencing and whole-genome genotyping are rapidly decreasing,” Venter and his colleagues observe. “Companies such as Navigenics, 23andMe, and deCODE will genotype 600,000 to 1,000,000 markers in an effort to offer personalized genomics; several hundred dollars covers the cost of the technology.” (Slate)