Should drug therapy be personalized based on race?

The A-HeFT (African American Heart Failure Trial) showed that isosorbide/hydralazine was associated with significant reductions in mortality in African Americans with heart failure compared with placebo. The results of a recently published genetic substudy identified a gene variant related to nitric oxide synthase production that attributed to the treatment response observed in patients enrolled in the A-HeFT. This finding suggests that isosorbide/hydralazine's ability to improve heart failure outcomes is tied to a genetic trait that may be more prevalent in African Americans than whites, but is not necessarily related to perceived race.