The inherent wide interindividual variability in response and tolerability of side effects in the treatment of schizophrenia itself provides a compelling rationale for the great potential of pharmacogenetics. Moreover, this potential is consonant with the broader public health directive toward personalized medicine. Within schizophrenia, the progress thus far has been modest in both the treatment response and adverse effect domains. This chapter chronicles the progress made in the quest for pharmacogenetic predictors in the treatment of schizophrenia.
Copyright © 2010 S. Karger AG, BaselBy any measure -and especially with regard to its treatment -schizophrenia is a highly heterogeneous disorder. A continued debate in our field that is of great relevance to the area of pharmacogenetics is whether schizophrenia is actually etiologically heterogeneous -that is a collection of several conditions that arise from different pathobiological bases -or whether schizophrenia is (merely) symptomatically heterogeneous [1] . Certainly, every clinician knows well that the presentation and course of illness varies widely between patients. Irrespective of whether you ascribe this heterogeneity to neurobiology or course alone, this variability in schizophrenia itself is the 'baseline condition' upon which pharmacogenetic examinations begin. This is an important consideration.Clinicians also know that there is wide variability in patients' response and tolerability of any given antipsychotic medication. The advent of second-generation antipsychotic medications (SGAs) alongside the first-generation antipsychotic medications (FGAs) has broadened the treatment options for patients. However, in large part the dilemma remains the same: at present, the selection of an antipsychotic is more on a 'trial and error' basis rather than based upon any robust rationale.