DNA Chip Could Help Doctors Decide Dosage

Ever since 2000, scientists have hyped personalized medicine as a natural outcome of the much-ballyhooed human genome project. They predicted that the new knowledge would soon be commonly used to improve patient care. But five years later, the practice of personalized medicine - targeting drugs and dosages to specific patients - has been limited. When it comes to prescribing drugs, genetics and DNA are still mostly ignored. Researchers say a DNA chip developed at Pleasanton, Calif.-based Roche Molecular Systems and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration two weeks ago may help change that. They say Roche's DNA chip may usher in a new era, where genetics plays an increasingly important role in defining patient care.