In March 2001, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed the biotech firm NitroMed to proceed with a full-scale clinical trial of what has been touted as "the first ethnic drug." The trial itself was the first ever "conducted exclusively in black men and women suffering from heart failure."
但是大门毕竟已经敞开，这是研究策略概念化并以种族为制药基础迈出的第一步，接下来的进展也不会等待太久。2001年3月，美国食品药品管理局（FDA）允许NitroMed生物技术公司进行大规模临床试验，该研究被誉为"首次种族药品的尝试。"这是针对"患有心脏病的黑人男女"所进行的专门试验。