Description: This book applies a social science perspective to an examination of issues that arise in clinical practice as a result of drug development linked to genetic testing. These include the social context within which new drugs undergo trials and the related attitudes and expectations of clinicians and patients. Two case studies illustrate the arguments--one on aspects of Alzheimer's disease, and the other on the drug Herceptin which is used in the treatment of breast cancer.
Brief description: Adam Hedgecoe is Lecturer at the Department of Sociology, University of Sussex. He has published in Science, Technology and Human Values, Social Studies of Science, Sociology of Health and Illness, and Bioethics.
Review Quotes: "...Hedgecoe's study both illumniates new perspectives on pharmacogenetics, and serves as a welcome corrective to work within medical sociology which...implicityly depreciates the role of politics in medicine." Linsey McGoey, London School of Economics and Political Science, British Journal of Sociology