Concepts applied to psychiatry pharmacogenomics

Abstract

Pharmacogenetics studies the action of a drug in order to predict the response based on the genetic makeup of an individual. The objective of pharmacogenetic studies is to minimize the adverse effects and to ensure therapeutic benefit. Since psychotropic drugs have a high rate of variability in patient response, the aim of this paper is to update the pharmacogenetic concepts in psychopharmacology in a review that provides tools for rigorous analysis when prescribing a psychotropic drug. The purpose of clinical pharmacogenetic testing is to be able to distinguish between patients who are more or less responders to certain drugs, or on contrary, who are at increased risk for adverse events. The goal is to choose a drug therapy that can maximize the effectiveness in the treatment and minimize the risks of adverse reactions, thus improving the benefit / risk ratio. In conclusion: technology is not a limiting factor nowadays; the challenge remains, however, to further develop research for clinical use, establishing an appropriate validation test, that is accurate, repeatable and reproducible, in order to safely detect gene sequences of clinical interest.