Would there not be value in pre-screening patients for SCN9A mutations to predict an increased risk of pain killer addiction? Socioeconomic factors play as role as well, but it doesn't to be so black and white.
> Would there not be value in pre-screening patients for SCN9A mutations to predict an increased risk of pain killer addiction?
Dangers, too. Legitimate pain patients already frequently have to drop through an onerous set of hoops for opiates, and the medical system isn't always good at teasing out "increased risk" from "unacceptable risk". (For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rofecoxib, aka Vioxx)
SCN9A variants have certainly been linked to changes in pain sensitivity (in both directions), but where have they been linked to changes in risk for opiate addiction? Even for the variant identified in this paper, the fact that it was linked to increased pain doesn't necessarily mean that it would put one at an increased risk for opiate addiction; in fact, you could easily imagine the opposite.
Furthermore, in spite of the strong genetic evidence, especially for the cases for congenital pain insensitivity, it has also been hard for the industry to develop Nav1.7 inhibitors, but that could mostly be due to targeting specificity.
Dangers, too. Legitimate pain patients already frequently have to drop through an onerous set of hoops for opiates, and the medical system isn't always good at teasing out "increased risk" from "unacceptable risk". (For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rofecoxib, aka Vioxx)