Media Advisory - In a Canadian first, family practice offers genetic testing with CAMH to predict which psychiatric meds work best

TORONTO, Jan. 25, 2013 /CNW/ - For the first time in Canada, patients attending a family practice clinic will be offered genetic testing to see whether or how they will respond to psychiatric medication treatment, in partnership with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

The Thornhill Medical Centre, a clinic of family physicians, and CAMH are hosting an event to launch the first Canadian primary care centre to use this approach, known as personalized medicine.

"These pharmacogenetic tests will allow physicians to use a patient's genetic makeup to help predict which medications are safe to prescribe, and which ones may be ineffective or cause side effects," said Dr. James Kennedy, head of CAMH's Neuroscience Research Department. The tests, which will prevent trial-and-error prescribing and reduce associated health-care costs, will be analyzed in the Tanenbaum Centre for Pharmacogenetics at CAMH's Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute.

This initiative is part of the provincewide IMPACT study (Individualized Medicine: Pharmacogenetic Assessment & Clinical Treatment). Any family doctor can access these tests through IMPACT, which was funded in part by the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation.

*Photo opportunities within the clinic.

Date: Wednesday, January 30
Time: 11 a.m.
Location: Thornhill Medical Centre
24 Centre St.
Thornhill, Ontario

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the world's leading research centres in its field.

CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental health and addiction issues.  CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre. For more information, please visit www.camh.ca.

SOURCE: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Media contact: Michael Torres; [phone]; [email protected]