Depression: Genes Influence the Success of Venlafaxine Treatment
Why is venlafaxine not effective enough for some people with depression, while others benefit from the treatment? An international study—with significant participation from the Dr. Margarete Fischer-Bosch Institute for Clinical Pharmacology at the Bosch Health Campus—shows that genetic differences in drug metabolism play an important role in this. People with genetically determined low activity of a specific enzyme were significantly more likely to switch to a different antidepressant. When the activity of two enzymes was altered simultaneously, the risk of treatment failure was even more than six times higher. The results were published in the renowned journal "The Lancet Psychiatry".
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