By Albert Leung, Staff Writer

Minneapolis-based clinical research facility Prism Research is embarking on an extensive study which they hope will lead to understanding how to dose drugs more accurately for Chinese patients. Researchers will be studying two liver enzyme sets that effects how fast or slow the body can eliminate drugs in its system.

Representatives of Prism Research said that numerous studies have shown that upwards of 40 percent of Chinese descendants have a rare phenotype involving liver enzyme sets CYP2 C219 and CYP2 C9. These enzymes are primarily responsible for metabolizing drugs and this unique trait can cause drugs to remain in the system for too long or too short of a time.

The goal is to identify about 200 Chinese people who possess this variant and are willing participate in further studies to better understand how this effects drugs in the system.

“Pharmaceutical companies are seeing a lot of economic growth and opportunities in China,” said Kevin Fitzgerald, Recruitment Coordinator. “We hope to build a database of people who have this phenotype to help pharmaceutical companies better understand how to dose their drugs to people of Chinese descent.”

Prism Research is paying US$25 to each participant for the initial blood draw that will determine if they have this unique phenotype. Participants must be between the age of 18 to 65 years old and completely of Chinese descent. Prism Research assures that all willing participants will be safely cared for by their medical staff. Participants can also opt-out of the study at anytime if they feel uncomfortable with participating further.

For more information on participating in this study as well as further studies conducted by Prism Research, visit www.prismresearchinc.com.