Dr Patrick Gladding with a 3D laser etching of a double helix, or DNA. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Dr Patrick Gladding with a 3D laser etching of a double helix, or DNA. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Chances are, if you're admitted to hospital with chest pain from clogged arteries, you'll rapidly become familiar with a lifesaver called Clopidogrel.

The drug, which also goes by the name Plavix, is used in a range of heart diseases as well as for circulatory conditions and in the treatment of stroke.

It saves lives by stopping blood clots forming and is often used in conjunction with other heart procedures such as angioplasty and stenting.

What's less well known is that the drug has to interact with enzymes from your liver in order to work. Unfortunately, by a quirk of genetic fate, some don't have the ability to make these enzymes and so they don't respond to the drug.

For this group - which can be up to 30 per cent of those given the drug - the chances of recovery are not good. Also not well known is that Maori and Pacific people are much more likely than Europeans to have the genetic variant that causes Plavix not to work.

The answer seems obvious.

Test for the gene before you take the drug. And if you're a "non-responder" pursue an alternative drug treatment.

Until recently, such an option was a future science fantasy. But, thanks to groundbreaking New Zealand research, you can have the genetic test done for about $200 and get your results in about 24 hours.

Lamentably, hardly anyone knows about it, and even though such a test could save lives, it's not something you'll be offered in New Zealand hospitals. Not yet.

But as research continues to show positive benefits from tailoring drugs to your genes, it's a situation that may be about to change.

Pharmacogenetics. It's a place where drugs, biology and technology collide. At its frontier is the prospect of the "US$1000 genome" - an individual's entire DNA sequence on a computer chip - a future that some claim is as little as two to three years away. Medicine, but not as we know it.

While it's now possible to know and hold the blueprint of one's fate, having such knowledge isn't always helpful. James Watson, when he was presented with his genome recorded on two DVDs, insisted that the information about his APoE gene, an indicator for Alzheimer's, was removed. Watson reasoned there was little point knowing about such a risk if there was nothing he could do about it.

It's an argument that leads many to question the benefit of direct-to-consumer online services such as deCODE Genetics and 23andMe which encourage people to send in a saliva sample and for around US$1000 ($1458) get a picture of some of their genetic quirks and glitches.