A joint Korean-U.S. research team says it has found that certain gene variations can change how the human body absorbs medicine.

Seoul National University Professor Oh Jeong-mi and researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration say they have confirmed that certain gene mutations can change the amount of protein carrying medicine in the body, resulting in changes in absorption rates.

Professor Oh says that based on the results, the team could develop patient-specific medicine tailored to an individual's sensitivity to drugs based in part on the person's gene type.

The study is to be published in Science magazine.