Allele signals abacavir hypersensitivity.

The article reports on the decision of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand the black box warning for abacavir and abacavir-containing medications. The warning mandates that patients should be screened for human leukocyte antigen HLA-B*5701 before undergoing antiretroviral treatment regimen. It was noted that the warning is associated with the future use of personal genetic information to determine the effectiveness and safety of a drug before it is prescribed.