Its next implementation will allow a better personalization of the treatments, the increase of the efficacy and safety of the same, the reduction of the frequency and the severity of the side effects as well as the reduction of the risk of suicide of the patients treated with these drugs . In terms of efficacy, the HUMT will become the first hospital in Catalonia to have its own service to adjust these clinical doses, which can be implemented with a maximum time of 48 hours.



There is scientific evidence that the fact of using pharmacogenetic information for the personalization of antidepressant treatments reports a significant improvement in them. It is also known that only one third of treated patients achieve clinical remission, while two thirds do not respond to the first drug and one third is resistant to treatment. Even so, pharmacogenetics is rarely used in psychiatric clinical practice due to the difficulty of performing the necessary tests in hospital settings, the lack of protocols for action and the lack of studies that demonstrate its clinical usefulness.



Pharmacogenetics at the service of patients' health

In this sense, HUMT is currently developing and standardizing rapid genotyping methods of genetic variants of interest as well as clinical protocols of action. A reference pharmacogenomic advisory team has also been established and it is expected that prospective recruitment of patients for the evaluation of the clinical benefits of the methods developed can already be carried out in the summer.

Under the title "Improvement of treatment with antidepressant drugs: development and implementation of new pharmacogenetic interventions in hospital settings", the project led by Dr. Mª Jesús Arranz, coordinator of the research laboratory of the MútuaTerrassa Teaching and Research Foundation and carried out with the collaboration of the Hospital of Santa Cruz and San Pablo and Catlab- has received an aid from the Strategic Plan of Research and Innovation in Health (PERIS) for the period 2018 to 2.020.



The PERIS recognizes 3 more professionals from the center

Within the framework of this call, the HUMT has also been awarded two scholarships for the intensification of the research activity of nursing professionals (which have fallen to Ms. Núria Freixas and Ms. Marta Jiménez) as well as assistance for the intensification of the research activity of specialist physicians (in this case granted to Dr. Tomás Pérez Porcuna).