GenoMed discovers African gene

Feb 12 2007

GenoMed has announced that it has found the "African gene," responsible for the much higher incidence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney failure among people of African ancestry than whites.

High blood pressure, and many other diseases, are roughly twice as common among African Americans than whites. For people with high blood pressure, kidney failure is five times more common among African Americans than whites. So blacks have 10 times more kidney failure than whites. The difference has been ascribed to the "African gene."

The "African gene," or more accurately, "African genotype," is actually a misnomer. It is not unique to Africans, but is present in every ethnic group, where it appears to cause most common diseases. (It is just more frequent among Africans). For example, it is associated with three-quarters of common diseases among whites. GenoMed has shown that knowing this "master" disease gene makes it possible to prevent kidney failure in whites, blacks, and Hispanics.

Said Dr. David Moskowitz, GenoMed's CEO, "It is appropriate that this February, Black History Month, we start trying to make kidney dialysis a thing of the past, since African Americans disproportionately make up the rolls of dialysis companies. So do other people of color: Hispanics and Native Americans have much more diabetes and kidney failure than whites."

Dr. Moskowitz continued, "The advantage of knowing the gene behind most common diseases is obvious. In this case, society is fortunate to already have safe, effective, cheap generic drugs that work against the gene. Our only problem for the past five years has been in getting the word out."

Dr. Moskowitz has published extensively on the African gene in peer-reviewed medical journals beginning in 1996.