Pharmacogenetic methods in schizophrenia

Human variability in response to medication is an impediment to successful drug treatment, as it makes good clinical response and avoidance of side effects difficult to predict. Much of this variability is genetic in origin, as inheritance results in differences in the way drugs are metabolized and act on their receptors in the body. There are two possible ways of avoiding this, either by designing future drugs which are not subject to the vagaries of human metabolism, or by pharmacogenetics, i.e. determining those genetic factors which affect response. Pharmacogenetics looks for inherited differences between responders and non-responders (or those with and without a particular side effect) to a given medication so that the mechanisms of variability can be understood. Current research is aimed at developing prescribing strategies of the future which will use simple genetic tests to determine which drug is most suitable for a given patient.