Peculiarities of the Effect of Antipsychotics: Pharmacogenetic Studies

Abstract

Currently, antipsychotics are the only type of drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia. The efficacy of antipsychotics in the treatment of schizophrenia is unsatisfactory. Specifically, more than 20% of schizophrenia patients are antipsychotic-resistant patients not sensitive to at least two antipsychotics. A combination of factors affecting the drug metabolism (pharmacokinetics) and the drug action (pharmacodynamics) underlies the differences in the response to the same antipsychotic agent. There is an obvious genetic contribution to the variability of response to psychotropic agents. Moreover, it is known that side effects caused by administration of these drugs may have an even stronger genetic component. This review presents the results of the most recent world research in the field of pharmacogenetics of antipsychotics.