If you're an African-American, you're much more likely to suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. These facts have been established through a series of studies over many years. But would you expect a heart drug to work better on you than on someone who isn't black?

That's a question scientists are struggling with, as the test results of a new prescription drug seem to indicate for the first time that a person's race may make a difference in how his or her body reacts to a medication.

The assumption has always been that whatever health differences exist between racial or ethnic groups are because of cultural and environmental disparities. Some experts say the solution lies in improving the health-care system and promoting better lifestyle and dietary practices.

But recently, the federal government approved a heart drug targeted specifically at African-Americans, the first time anything like this has happened. If people of all races are the same, why would the drug work better on one group than another?

It's a good question and one that doctors and scientists are trying to answer. Once they do, their findings could potentially change how people of all colors are treated.

The drug, called BiDil, wasn't overtly successful in white people during testing. It was a different story, however, for black people, who responded much better. The black test group's mortality rate was reduced by a whopping 43 percent; in fact, the results were so dramatic that researchers stopped the clinical trial and administered BiDil to all 1,050 black heart patients so they could benefit. The findings are important because African-Americans may be as much as 50 percent more likely to die from heart disease as whites, according to Paul Underwood, MD, a cardiologist at North Phoenix Heart Center in Arizona and president of the Association of Black Cardiologists.