Click below for Heartland Institute’s Health Care News’ article about United Healthcare’s decision to cover some pharmacogenetics testing despite FDA’s safety communication that warns against use. Determining the effectiveness of drug therapy is an attractive prospect not just for doctors and patients, but third-party payers who bear the costs of prescription drugs. Klein says FDA’s hesitation to endorse the tests is not surprising. “[It] is wrapped up into FDA’s history of trying to regulate clinical and medical laboratories over the objections of many pathologists and other physicians and laboratory service providers,” said Klein. The services in question have great potential, but they may be subject to error and abuse, says Klein. “Although there appears to be relationships between certain genetic variants and drug metabolism, it is often not clear how to use this information in medical settings for individual patients,” said Klein. “There have also been instances of fraud and abuse involving these types of tests, most recently as part of reported scams promoted to Medicare beneficiaries at health fairs and in similar settings.” https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/insurer-begins-covering-pharmacogenetic-testing-despite-fda-warning