Pharmacogenetic-Guided Treatment Shows No Benefit Over Standard Treatment for Adolescents With MDD

This study found that participants in both the GENE and TAU arms improved throughout the duration of the study, and there was no statistical difference in improvement between the two arms on the CDRS-R, QIDS, and CGAS,” the authors reported. “In addition, there was no statistical difference i n YMRS scores or the number of adverse events/side effects between the GENE and TAU arms throughout the duration of the study.”The authors noted that although selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were the most frequently prescribed medications for participants in both treatment arms, the TAU arm had nearly 15% more SSRIs prescribed than the GENE arm.“Pharmacogenetics testing held a great deal of promise as the gateway to personalized medicine. … [U]nfortunately, the field is not there yet, and clear clinical utility for commercial combinatorial platforms in adolescents with depression remains elusive,” Vande Voort and colleagues wrote. Fu ture studies should explore “whether concordance (defined as when the clinician’s treatment recommendation matches the pharmacogenetics testing report of ‘use as directed’) is associated with greater response/remission rates or lower side effect burden when compared to nonconcordant treatmen t,” they advised.For related information, see the Psychiatric News articles “Pharmacogenomic Tests in Psychiatry: Not Ready for Prime Time” and “Task Force on Gene Testing for Antidepressant Efficacy Concludes Tests Not Yet Rea...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: adolescents Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry major depressive disorder MDD pharmacogenetics selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors Source Type: research