Although therapeutic medicines are frequently prescribed to improve health, individual responses are often inconsistent, unpredictable and potentially harmful. Recognising that individual genetic variation can influence response, pharmacogenomics aims to identify clinically relevant medicine/genome relationships, and use this knowledge to improve the safe and effective use of medicines. To facilitate the translation of new pharmacogenomic knowledge from the scientific laboratories where it is generated, into the clinical health services where it can be applied, Khoury et al developed a framework outlining a continuum of translation research. This framework must be embedded within a social and political environment conducive to supporting translational research if the desired outcomes are to be achieved. Drawing on the example of one pharmacogenomic test that is now well integrated into clinical practice, this article traces the contemporaneous social and political factors that facilitated translational pharmacogenomic research, and enabled the safe use of a vital medicine.