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Does pharmacogenomics provide an ethical challenge to the utilisation of cost-effectiveness analysis by public health systems?

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Abstract

Pharmacogenomics promotes an understanding of the genetic basis for differences in efficacy or toxicity of drugs in different individuals. Implementation of the outcomes of pharmacogenomic research into clinical practice presents a number of difficulties for healthcare. This paper aims to highlight one of the unique ethical challenges which pharmacogenomics presents for the utilisation of cost-effectiveness analysis by public health systems. This paper contends that pharmacogenomics provides a challenge to fundamental principles which underlie most systems for deciding which drugs should be publicly subsidised. Pharmacogenomics brings into focus the conflict between equality and utility in the context of using cost-effectiveness analysis to aid distribution of a limited national drug budget.

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Acknowledgements

No sources of funding were used to assist in the preparation of this study. The author has no conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this study.

The author would like to thank Dr William Grey, Reader in Philosophy, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, for comments on a previous version of this paper.

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  1. School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia

    Adam La Caze

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  1. Adam La Caze
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Correspondence to Adam La Caze.

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La Caze, A. Does pharmacogenomics provide an ethical challenge to the utilisation of cost-effectiveness analysis by public health systems?. Pharmacoeconomics 23, 445–447 (2005). https://doi.org/10.2165/00019053-200523050-00004

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