Blacks With Certain Gene Need Lower Doses of Warfarin: Study

The discovery of a genetic variation that affects how some black patients respond to the blood thinner warfarin could improve the safety and effectiveness of the drug, researchers report. Blacks with this common genetic variation need a significantly lower dose of warfarin than those without the variation, the researchers report online June 4 in The Lancet. "Adding this genetic marker -- found in more than 40 percent of African-American patients in the study -- to standard dosing algorithms improved the predictability of warfarin dosing by 21 percent in these individuals, which has the potential to increase the safety and effectiveness of this notoriously hard-to- dose drug," study leader Julie Johnson, of the University of Florida, said in a journal news release. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_137524.html