Pharmacogenomics in the psychiatric population
Pharmacogenomics in the psychiatric population

Summary/Abstract: Recent research has revealed that patients may metabolize the same drug differently. Why and how does this occur? Investigation into the expanding field of pharmacogenomics can help answer these two questions. Pharmacogenomics is the study of all genes in the genome that may determine drug response.1 Looking into studies where psychiatric patients have been diagnosed with the same disease, it has been observed that a large sample of patients react differently to similar or the same medications. In pharmacogenomics of the psychiatric population, drugs are divided into three categories based on safety and effectiveness: red category, yellow category, and green category; red-zone, yellow-zone, and green-zone. The subjects of the studies cited herein are a sampling of those who took either red, yellow, or green categorized FDA-approved drugs. There is also a small sample of subjects who took a combination of yellow and green drugs simultaneously. However, there are no subjects that took a combination of red and yellow or a combination of red and green; and there are also no subjects that took drugs from all three categories. Drugs that treat depression are the focus of this research, as psychiatric medicines, such as antidepressants, have a large sampling of patients who have or have not done well with the various medications. Pharmacogenomic testing will help treat patients more effectively using medications that better correspond to the patient’s genetic makeup. This results in a more personalized approach to treatment with medicines.

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