The Potential Utility of Pharmacogenetic Testing in Psychiatry

Abstract

Over the last decade, pharmacogenetics has become increasingly significant to clinical practice. Psychiatric patients, in particular, may benefit from pharmacogenetic testing as many of the psychotropic medications prescribed in practice lead to varied response rates and a wide range of side effects. The use of pharmacogenetic testing can help tailor psychotropic treatment and inform personalized treatment plans with the highest likelihood of success. Recently, many studies have been published demonstrating improved patient outcomes and decreased healthcare costs for psychiatric patients who utilize genetic testing. This review will describe evidence supporting the clinical utility of genetic testing in psychiatry, present several case studies to demonstrate use in everyday practice, and explore current patient and clinician opinions of genetic testing.

Clozapine Pharmacogenetic Studies in Schizophrenia: Efficacy and Agranulocytosis

“…Pharmacogenetic testing has the potential to help improve patient outcome, lower healthcare costs, and increase patient medication adherence (Gardner et al, 2014 ). Pharmacogenetic testing in psychiatry is not yet a standard of practice, however, its utilization is steadily increasing (Eum et al, 2016 ; Fabbri et al, 2018 ).…”

New collection records for Theraphosidae (Araneae, Mygalomorphae) in Angola, with the description of a remarkable new species of Ceratogyrus

“…Counts for cuspules and clavate trichobothria were taken from four specimens and ranges are presented. Terminology for the description follows that of Gallon and Engelbrecht (2011). Abbreviations are AER: anterior eye row; ALE: anterior lateral eyes; AME: anterior median eyes; DPD: distal prodorsal; DPV: distal proventral; DRD: distal retrodorsal; DRV: distal retroventral; PER: posterior eye row; PLE: posterior lateral eyes; PME: posterior median eyes.…”

“…Published records of Theraphosidae from Angola are rare, compared to other southern African countries (Smith 1990, Gallon 2002, 2008, Gallon and Engelbrecht 2011, van Noort and Ranwashe 2017, Denver Museum of Nature & Science 2018, Grant and Maier 2018, iNaturalist.org 2018, Lyle and Ranwashe 2018, Senckenberg 2018, Tarantupedia 2018, with only nine species in five genera currently known from the country (Figure 1, Table 1). Many Afrotropical ecoregions converge in Angola, resulting in high biodiversity and endemism of other taxa (Myers et al 2000).…”

Progress in pharmacogenetics: consortiums and new strategies

“…The main problem is that it requires a precise characterization of the phenotype, which might be difficult since characterization and collection of efficacy and toxicity of a drug is especially complex. In the recent years, cost-effectiveness studies to assess the clinical and economic benefits of using genetic information for drug prescription and dose selection have been published [12,13], remarking the role of PGx as a valuable tool that could be implemented in the daily life of a hospital in the near future.…”