TBA The Biotechnology Initiative

The Voice of Bioscience in Ontario



TBI Breakfast meeting April 17: Central Nervous System Disorders

As scientists begin to unravel little by little just how much of an effect an individual's genetic make up has on the efficacy of a drug, the field of pharmacogenetics continues to gain momentum as a mainstream science.

The Biotechnology Initiative’s April breakfast meeting featured two experts on the subject with Dr. Daniel Mueller, head of CAMH’s (Centre for addiction and mental health) pharmacogenetics clinic and Dr. James Kennedy, director of the Neuroscience Research Department and head of the Psychiatric Neurogenetics Section at CAMH discussing the role of the clinic and giving insight into their work.

First-generation antipsychotic medications went out of favour in the 1990s, partly because they caused tardive dyskinesia, a severe and unpleasant side effect in which the muscles of the face and hands twitch involuntarily. In the mid-to-late 1990s, psychiatry shifted to second-generation medications. These had a lower risk for tardive dyskinesia but caused significant weight gain in certain cases. Both Mueller’s and Kennedy’s work is about figuring out the genetic information that can help predict these side effects in higher risk patients.

Both men are hoping to realize a new era of precise prescribing of antipsychotic and antidepressant medications based on our genes through pharmacogenetics.