Using Mendelian randomization to improve how drugs are tested for different populations

Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard for testing health interventions. However, they typically focus on specific groups within a population. Often the people recruited to trials have European heritage. This means findings might not apply to the whole UK population or people living in other countries. 

It isn’t possible to do RCTs in all the populations that might benefit from a drug. In this project we are using genetic variation to predict how medicines might affect different populations. This approach, known as Mendelian Randomization (MR), is carried out using large genetic datasets. 

However, most available genetic data is typically from European people. To address this, we have established a cross-population MR network that combines the results of genetic data in different populations from four Medical Research Council (MRC) units. 

The network will look at the effects of both cholesterol and blood pressure lowering drugs to develop and validate an approach to using MR across different populations. We hope that this will be effective at estimating the effects of drugs in people from a range of heritages.