While medication is often a powerful component of mental health treatment, determining the right option is not always simple.
Rogers Research Center is exploring how a type of genetic testing known as pharmacogenomics, or PGx, might improve the process, ultimately leading to more effective, personalized care. Watch the video below and read on to learn how.
With a background in genetics, Kelly Parsons, PhD, is director of Research Administration and Health Economics at Rogers Research Center, located at the main headquarters of Rogers Behavioral Health in Oconomowoc. She’s leading efforts to explore pharmacogenomics and its role in informing medication decisions.
“Pharmacogenomics is a different type of test where you’re not testing for a diagnostic gene. You’re testing for genes that don’t confer disease risk, but these genes are involved in how your body metabolizes and distributes and uses medications,” Parsons says. “Two people can take the exact same dose of the same medication, and one person can say, ‘I think I’m on a sugar pill, I don’t feel anything.’ And the other person can say, ‘I just feel awful. I can’t get out of bed. I’m so sick, I’m not hungry, I’m tired all the time,’ and some of that can be due to genetics.”
PGx can provide critical information about how individuals process medications, leading to informed decision-making. It is already commonly used in treatment plans outside the behavioral health field, Parsons says, such as for heart disease and cancer.
“It just really hasn’t caught on in this space yet,” she says.
Thanks to a generous gift from the Rogers Behavioral Health Foundation, 500 Rogers patients will be eligible for PGx testing at no cost, as researchers study how clinicians use the testing as part of their treatment plans. Over time, Parsons hopes to expand research efforts to further explore potential benefits for patients, which can include cutting down on the number of medications a person takes, as well as the trial-and-error process.
“Most medications, before a patient really is going to see any benefit from it, they have to be on it for a number of weeks – six to eight weeks is usually what you hear,” Parsons says. “That’s a long time to wait to see if they’re going to find any relief. And then if they don’t, or if they have unwanted side effects, to have to try another one and another one over and over – it’s a strain. Additionally, there is evidence that the more medications a patient cycles through and tries, the less likely they are to ever really find one that provides relief to them.”
PGx can bring benefits Parsons has experienced personally.
“I had been on a medication, and I had some really horrible side effects to it,” she says. “Then when I got this test, it confirmed everything that I had felt. I was a poor metabolizer.”
PGx can not only save time and effort, but also money, meaning Parsons foresees a future where insurance covers such tests.
“For long-term, $300 isn’t a lot of money to spend up front if you’re looking at spending thousands of dollars on medication on this patient over their treatment,” she says. “Not to mention the costs associated with treating unwanted side effects that may accompany many of these medications. If the testing can prevent or lessen these adverse side effects, that could also confer a cost savings to the patient, the hospital, and the health care system.”
Efforts at Rogers Research Center help expand our understanding of PGx testing — at Rogers and beyond.
