Symposium 6: From Trial-and-Error to Precision: Pharmacogenomic-Guided Medication Use in Mental Health Care
Tracks
Track 2
| Thursday, December 11, 2025 |
| 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM |
Details
Prescribing of psychotropic medications for mental health diagnoses has long been a “trial-and-error” approach guided by broad guideline recommendations, clinical indicators, and, subsequently, patient response and tolerability to treatment. Many patients require several trials before finding an effective medication they can tolerate. This approach oftentimes results in a delay in the control of symptoms or exposes patients to intolerable side effects. Pharmacogenomic testing provides a strategy to improve the likelihood of choosing safe and effective psychotropic medications. This session will focus on the experiences and preliminary outcomes from landmark clinical trials evaluating the clinical utility of pharmacogenomic-guided prescribing of medications used to treat mental health conditions in Australia. It will also cover practical aspects of implementing pharmacogenomic testing such as adequacy of the test/reports and the economic value of testing.
Speaker
A/Prof Kathy Wu
St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney
The AustraLIan trial of GeNotype-guided pharmacothErapy for Depression (ALIGNED)
Biography
Dr Sibel Saya
Research Fellow
The University of Melbourne
PRESIDE Trial: Providing pharmacogenomic-guided antidepressant medication information to patients with mild-to-severe depressive symptoms
Biography
A/Prof Luke Hesson
Department manager - Genetics
Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology
The science of delivering pharmacogenomic test results to guide prescribing in Australia
Biography
Prof Christine Lu
Clinical Chair of Pharmacy, Royal North Shore Hospital
University Of Sydney
The value proposition: Is pharmacogenomic-guided prescribing of medicines to treat mental health conditions economically sound?
Biography
Chair
Sam Mostafa
Clinical Director
myDNA Life Australia
Sophie Stocker
The University Of Sydney
