Objective: Individualized, or personalized, therapy is highlighted as the declared goal of pharmacogenetics. In this paper, the content and significance of the individualization concept are analyzed. Method: Our analysis is based on a systematic reading of the current literature pertinent to pharmacogenetics. Results: This analysis reveals that the pharmacogenetic understanding of individualization is based on a biomechanistic paradigm. In contrast to a notion of individualized therapy based on a biopsychosocial paradigm, this biomechanistic concept does not provide for individualization in psychosocial terms, but instead leads to the stratification and classification of patient populations. This finding does not necessarily cast doubt on the efficacy of pharmacogenetics, but does call its underlying ideology into question. Conclusion: The term ‘individualization of therapy’ does not reflect the real potential of pharmacogenetics, but instead represents a widely used and theoretically unjustified publicity slogan.

Keywords:
Individualization of therapy, Pharmacogenetics, Stratification, Classification
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2003
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