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 . Even when it’s done right, says Davey Smith, it’s easy to overinterpret results. 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 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 .