Lack of drug testing on indigenous Aussies putting population at risk: experts

The health of indigenous Australians could be at risk due to insufficient test data detailing the effects of certain medicines on the regenerating population, experts say.

Doctor Tilenka Thynne, from Flinders Medical Center, and Doctor Genevieve Gabb, from Royal Adelaide Hospital, made the assessment in a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) on Monday.

The two experts believe inadequate testing on the side effects of drugs on indigenous people is fraught with danger, and could possibly lead to death in extreme cases.

It is a commonly cited fact that the ethnicity of an individual impacts the effectiveness and potential harm of certain types of medication.

At present, certain vulnerable groups in society - such as the elderly, children, pregnant and breastfeeding women - are targeted for testing purposes - but no mechanism to test aboriginal Australians is in place.

"A younger group of people are exposed to drugs when starting cardiovascular screening and primary preventive treatment, leading to potentially longer cumulative lifetime exposure," the two experts wrote in the MJA on Monday.

Thynne and Gabb noted most indigenous Australians started to take therapeutic drugs at a younger age and remained on the medication for longer.

According to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, indigenous Australians' average life-span is 67.2 years - 11.5 years less than the general population.

The median age of indigenous Australians (21.8 years) is also 15.8 years less than white Australians (37.6).

The aboriginal population has been steadily recovering since the early 1900s, where it fell below 100,000 people. It is expected the number of aboriginal Australians will hit 721,000 by 2021, returning the population to above the pre-settlement levels.

Thynne and Gabb said it was inappropriate for drug regulators to generalize testing information, but acknowledged it would be difficult to fund a testing regime for indigenous Australians.

"It is in the post-marketing space that a comprehensive and pro-active approach to addressing drug safety in indigenous Australians is urgently needed," they wrote.

"The assessment and management of potential adverse drug reactions should be part of any comprehensive health care program.

"Aboriginal health care workers, like all health care professionals, need training in pharmacovigilance, the principles of drug safety, and the identification and reporting of adverse drug reactions," the doctors said. Enditem