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 ef fects 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 vagari es of human metabolism, or by pharmacogenetics, i.e. determining those gene tic factors which affect response. Pharmacogenetics looks for inherited dif ferences between responders and non-responders (or those with and without a particular side effect) to a given medication so that the mechanisms of va riability can be understood. Current research is aimed at developing prescr ibing strategies of the future which will use simple genetic tests to deter mine which drug is most suitable for a given patient.