Assessing pharmacogenomic testing to treat mental health conditions in the NHS

Project leads:  

Alison Tennant, Chief Pharmacist 

Gareth Rees, Consultant Psychiatrist 

Jess Woodley, Principal Clinical Scientist  

Project Summary 

Pharmacogenomic testing facilitates identifying the most effective drugs for an individual (reducing the need to cycle through multiple drugs to optimise treatment), and minimising the incidence of adverse drug reactions, thereby reducing costs and improving patient care. 

West Midlands Regional Genetics Laboratory, local pharmacy and mental health colleagues (Forward Thinking Birmingham) and Inagene Diagnostics Inc. (www.inagene.co.uk) have developed a patient test pathway to assess the impact of pharmacogenomic testing on patient outcomes within NHS mental health services. A panel test using Agena MassArray, targets 56 genes to predict patient responses to >140 drugs for pain and mental health conditions. MassArray data is uploaded to the Inagene portal to generate an online patient report which provides the clinician with easy-to-interpret information to support drug treatment decisions.  

The pilot project, which is currently underway, aims to identify and overcome obstacles to incorporating pharmacogenomics into NHS prescribing pathways, and provide evidence of its impact in a real-world clinical setting.  

This project is supported by Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital Charity.   

For further information regarding this project, please contact jessica.woodley2@nhs.net. 

 

Updated 24/01/2023