Mendelian genetics is being used by pharmaceutical companies to mimic large - scale drug trials , using the genetic differences between people to discover whether certain genes are causal to disease . For example , a 2012 study into the correlation between HDL and heart disease found people born with genes that raise HDL cholesterol do not have fewer heart attacks that those without the gene , explaining the failure of HDL - raising drugs . George Davey Smith and Shah Hussain at the University of Bristol , England are among pioneers of the technique . The pharmaceutical industry is working with such researchers to predict the outcome of clinical trials .
Mendelian randomisation is being used by pharmaceutical companies to mimic large-scale drug trials, using the genetic differences between people to discover whether certain traits are causal to disease. For example, a 2012 study into the correlation between HDL and heart disease found people born with genes that raise HDL cholesterol do not have fewer heart attacks that those without the gene, explaining the failure of HDL-raising drugs. George Davey Smith and Shah Ebrahim at the University of Bristol, England are among pioneers of the technique. The pharmaceutical industry is working with such researchers to predict the outcome of clinical trials.