NIH Director Collins Says Comparative Effectiveness Research Will Fall Short Without Genetic Strategies

(GenomeWeb) - The limited focus on pharmacogenomics strategies in the federal government's comparative effectiveness efforts may be a step backwards for personalized medicine, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins cautioned at a meeting here this week.

Studies on genomically defined subpopulations that would advance personalized medicine are "going to get lost in the wash by considering everybody equivalent, which we know they are not," Collins said at a colloquium on personalized medicine hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.