PSYCH 021: Pharmacogenetics

Clinical Deep Dives · Jun 4, 2026 · 40m

Why does one patient respond well to a medication while another experiences no benefit - or significant side effects? Pharmacogenetics seeks to answer this question by examining how genetic variation influences drug metabolism, efficacy, and tolerability.

In this episode, we explore how differences in genes encoding drug-metabolising enzymes, receptors, and transporters can alter how medications are processed and how they act within the brain. Variations in systems such as cytochrome P450 enzymes can determine whether a drug is broken down too quickly, too slowly, or unpredictably.

We examine…