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Pharmacogenetics Holds Promise of Matching Patients With Medications  Pharmacogenetics may diminish the trial-and-error process of determining which medication will work for a patient. That’s the hope of John Kelsoe, M.D., a professor of psychiatry with the Laboratory of Psychiatric Genomics in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. Kelsoe directs the Bipolar Genome Study (BiGS), a 13-site consortium focused on identifying genes for bipolar disorder and their relationship to clinical symptoms. He also codirects the Psychiatric GWAS Consortium for Bipolar Disorder, an international collaborative effort designed to identify genes for bipolar disorder in a sample of over 10,000 patients. Kelsoe spoke at APA’s 2012 annual meeting in Philadelphia at the symposium “Research Advances in Psychiatric Pharmacogenomics.” He discussed recent work on advances in the pharmacogenetics of lithium response in the search for a personalized treatment of bipolar disorder. “If lithium response is familial, as we know it to be, is this a distinct form of the illness?” he asked. “And would it be possible for us to recognize a particular genotype of those patients who are more likely to respond to lithium?” Kelsoe described the search for such a genotype, saying its discovery might eventually allow the analysis of a DNA sample to provide a physician with a report indicating those medications to which a patient might best respond. Most bipolar disorder patients go through treatment for seven years and endure multiple drug trials before being accurately diagnosed. “Anything that would give us a leg up on reducing medication trials for these patients would be welcomed by patients and doctors,” Kelsoe said. “I think it’s coming and we’ll see it in our future.” |
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