Projects

Our team (E. Tini, L. Smigielski, S. Walitza) is the only KJP center in Switzerland, together with other study centers in Germany and Austria, actively involved in the "TDM-VIGIL" project (www.tdm-kjp.de), in which psychotropic drugs are investigated in children and adolescents. Publications from this naturalistic pharmacovigilance study provide insights into the relationships between dose, serum concentrations and clinical side effects of sertraline (Tini, Smigielski et al. 2022; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2022.152301) and fluoxetine and its metabolites (Frey, Smigielski et al. 2023, https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15092202) in the young patient population. A related research question is the identification of predictors of pharmacological response. Another important aim of this study is the development of drug- and disorder-specific therapeutic reference ranges (work of the TDM-VIGIL consortium is in preparation), which are currently only available for adults.

Our investigation into TDM aims to maximize the safety of psychopharmacology in young patients. TDM in combination with other methods may also contribute to a personalized approach in psychiatry in the future.