Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning. Currently, around 0.3–0.7% of people are affected by schizophrenia at some point in their life — as of 2011, this number stands at about 21 million people worldwide (about one of every 285).
In spite of the wide array of medicines available, 10–20% of patients do not initially respond to treatment with antipsychotic drug therapy. An additional 20–30% who do respond early on eventually relapse on their maintenance programs, and some develop serious side-effects that cause them to discontinue the medication
Since Q3 2019, we have been recruiting patients who are diagnosed with schizophrenia to study drug response towards risperidone in Indonesian populations. Our goal is to recruit and genotype 200 patients with schizophrenia and analyze the correlations between genetic mutations and rate of remission, relapse, adverse reactions, and adherence of medications.
By conducting genetic profiling on these patients, Nalagenetics aims to map the association between a patient’s genetic profile and their response towards antipsychotics. This has the potential to drastically increase treatment efficacy of schizophrenia in the Indonesian population.
Download our factsheet to learn more about pharmacogenetics aspects of in psychiatry.
