Variability in drug response - Pharmacogenetics

It has long been recognized that patients differ substantially in the way they respond to their medications. These differences may relate to compliance issues, or to the way their medications interacted with other concurrent medications and chemicals in their diet. Often differences may reflect the individual genetic makeup in terms of how the body deals with drugs and exogenous chemicals. The complex interactions between one's genetic makeup, environment and culture ultimately determine the balance of health and disease, as well as one's response to drugs.

It was Friedrich Vogel of Heidelberg, Germany in 1959 who first coined the term "Pharmacogenetics" (Vogel, F. Moderne problem der humangenetik. Ergeb Inn Med U Kinderheilk. 1959;12:52–125). But in reality, the hereditability of drug response was already being recognized as far back as 1931, when a DuPont chemist Arthur Fox discovered (Fox, A. L. : Tasteblindness. Science 73: 14, 1931) that some people were actually 'blind' to the taste of PTC (phenylthiocarbamide). As has often been the case, this was a very serendipitous discovery because it resulted from a lab accident when the PTC exploded into the air. While others around him experienced the bitter taste, Fox did not. It was subsequently discovered that he lacked the N-C=S group for his taste receptor. (see Yale Scientific Magazine)

The rest, as they say, ... is history.