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Can genetic testing help me to choose psychiatric medications?

Change your life and mind through genetic testing for psychiatric medications Pharmacogenetics can provide life-changing information regarding which drugs may work best based on your genetic makeup. It can assess how your body metabolizes and reacts to different medications, which can help you find the best ones based on your genetic...

Does ethnicity affect drug response?

Doctors have long been aware that family heritage and ancestry can majorly impact how people respond to medications. While not many people are aware of this, in the past, research studies were conducted on populations mostly of European descent. This created a significant gap in the representation of different races...

Made in CA features Pillcheck

A proudly Canadian innovative company, Pillcheck was recently featured in an exclusive interview with Made in CA. In the interview, Pillcheck CEO Veronika Litinski talks about the inspiration behind our pharmacogenetic (PGx) service, how we help individuals and their doctors use DNA-guided prescribing to achieve effective therapy faster, and our...

Pillcheck wins Arthritis Society Canada’s 2023 Award. Innovation is key to transforming arthritis care.

We're thrilled to announce that the Pillcheck team was honoured to be among the four winners, selected from top innovators across Canada, at the Arthritis Society Canada’s 2023 Arthritis Ideator Awards. Fueled by the trust and support of donors and volunteers, Arthritis Society Canada is fighting the fire of arthritis with research,...

SSRIs and Weight Gain: Minimizing Risk with Precision Medicine

While it is well known that many antidepressants are associated with weight gain, the mechanism was unclear until recently. In the past three years, large-scale studies identified the link between the genes involved in antidepressant metabolism and disturbances in cholesterol and triglyceride levels, risk of diabetes, and eventually manifesting as...

Why it’s a good idea to test your DNA before starting an add-on antidepressant

Did you know that only 30% of people get adequate symptom relief from the first antidepressant they try? The majority end up switching drugs or adding medications to manage their condition. Until recently, depression treatment often involved much "trial and error" to find the right treatment for each individual. However,...

Better Sooner: when software eats science, precision medicine is born

Marc Andreessen famously said, “software is eating the world.” Many nowadays say that AI eats the software. What about clinical science and precision medicine? We're all so familiar with our phones, and there's so much technology in there working together seamlessly. The underlying science of precision medicine is well-developed. Why...

Pharmacogenetic testing improves depression treatment in youth and reduces suicide risk

If you are the parent of a child or adolescent (teen) who has been diagnosed with clinical depression, you may be worried about your child and the implications of treatment. Children and adolescents with moderate to severe depression generally require psychotherapy and one or more medications. Yet, prescribing antidepressants in...

Another CAMH clinical trial demonstrates the clinical benefits of pharmacogenetics for severe depression

Pharmacogenetics (PGx) assesses how each person metabolizes medications based on their DNA. For example, different people given the same dosage of an antidepressant may have quite different levels of the drug in their blood - some may not respond until the drug is given at high doses, while others experience...

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