Family practice offers genetic tests to predict effective psychiatric meds

For the first time in Canada, patients attending a family practice clinic will be offered genetic testing to see whether or how they will respond to psychiatric medication treatment, in partnership with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

Thornhill Medical Centre, a clinic of , is making the promise of personalized medicine a reality.

"These pharmacogenetic tests will enable physicians to use a patient's to help predict which medications are safe to prescribe, and which ones may be ineffective or cause side effects," said Dr. James Kennedy, head of CAMH's Department.

The tests, which will prevent trial-and-error prescribing and reduce associated health-care costs, will be analyzed in the Tanenbaum Centre for Pharmacogenetics at CAMH's Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute.

"My patients were ready for these tests yesterday – they may have tried three or four different antidepressants that didn't work or had side effects, before finding something that helped them," Dr. Nick Voudouris, a family physician with the Thornhill Medical Centre. "The ability to be able to know which medications patients will respond to, based on their , is invaluable."

Using a saliva sample, variations on five genes are analyzed to predict a patient's response to 19 common antidepressant and antipsychotic medications. Medications that will work get a green light to prescribe as directed. A yellow caution. For each medication in this category, the tests will show whether dosing levels need to be lowered or increased, or that the drug's effects may not be optimal for this patient. Medications in the red light category should be used with caution and more frequent monitoring, due to side effects or lack of response.

This initiative is part of the larger IMPACT study (: Pharmacogenetic Assessment & Clinical Treatment). Funded in part by the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, IMPACT researchers aim to look at the impact of genetic testing over seven years in 20,000 patients. They are also seeking to identify new genetic markers.

"We expect these tests to improve patient satisfaction and safety, and have a substantial impact on reducing health-care costs, which we will be examining over the course of the IMPACT study," said Dr. Kennedy. "With the genetic information doctors will be better equipped to prevent complications from medications before they occur."

Thornhill Medical Centre was chosen because its team includes seven general practitioners and numerous registered nurses caring for a diverse array of who can be monitored on a fully implemented electronic medical record. This system helps track important research information as well. All clinic physicians agree that genetic information is important to study in terms of medication response and , and has a great benefit for patient care, Dr. Voudouris noted.

Citation: Family practice offers genetic tests to predict effective psychiatric meds (2013, January 30) retrieved 28 March 2024 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-family-genetic-effective-psychiatric-meds.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Genetic link to rapid weight gain from antipsychotics discovered

 shares

Feedback to editors