Clozapine Plasma Levels and the Relationship to the Genetic Polymorphism in Shizophrenic Patients

Approximately 30-60% of all schizophrenia patients who fail to respond to typical antipsychotics may respond to Clozapine. Clozapine has long been considered the "gold standard" within the atypical neuroleptic spectrum, backed by years of clinical experience and research, but uncertainties remain in some aspects of this drug. One such question is the link between dose, blood levels and patient clinical response. The Clozapine therapeutic plasma levels range between 250 - 450 ng/mL creating difficulties in using these results in routine clinical practice. Approximately 30% - 51% of "treatment-resistant schizophrenia" patients do not fully respond to Clozapine, a poorly understood phenomenon. Factors relevant to Clozapine-resistance include co-morbidity, drug misuse, poor adherence, inadequate duration of treatment and inadequate dose/plasma-levels. Pharmacogenetic factors such as different polymorphisms in involved genes may play a role. Pharmacodynamic and genetic data appear important in determining the clinical response to Clozapine. Clozapine-treated patients possessing different 3A4 polymorphisms, may respond differently as compared to other patients having normal 3A4 alleles. Recently, the CYP2D6 has also been involved in this drug metabolic pathway. Population pharmacokinetics of clozapine evaluated with the nonparametric maximum likelihood method. This pharmacogenetic explanation/hypothesis may explain Clozapine- resistance in schizophrenics.

The high variability in plasma levels requires a large study in order to be able to determine correlation between clinical efficacy and plasma levels and genotyping. A preliminary study will enable power analysis and adequate determination of sample size.