Clinical application of pharmacogenetics to psychiatry is the first step towards personalized medicine, as it helps to personalize the choice of drugs to be used in therapy.
T
his is done by using a genotype to predict levels of drug metabolism which results in avoiding side effects and improving positive clinical outcomes.
Through pharmacogenetic analyzes scientific answers are given to why some people respond to specific drugs while others do not.
In psychiatry, a significant proportion of patients receiving medication do not respond adequately to treatment and there is variation in both the dose range between the patients and the therapeutic effect.
Different responses to drug therapy can be attributed to both extrinsic factors such as interaction with other drugs, lifestyle, nutrition, and endogenous factors such as genetic differences affecting the genes responsible for the activity of enzymes that metabolize drugs as well as cellular receptors in which the drugs act.
The majority of drugs in psychiatry such as antidepressants, anti-stroke and antipsychotic drugs are metabolised by cytochrome P450 enzymes, whose activity is genetically determined.
The detection of these genetic variants is now possible behalf to pharmacogenetic analyzes.
The tests are done with a DNA sample (blood or saliva).