American Association for Clinical Chemistry Better health
through laboratory medicine Question And Answer Session  January
3, 2006 Presentation: The Role Of Pharmacogenomics In Bipolar
And Other Psychiatric Disorders  Welcome to AACC’s Expert Access
Live Online program  The Role Of Pharmacogenomics In Bipolar And
Other Psychiatric Disorders  This month's expert is Neil
Sandson, MD. View the presentation and direct your questions to
our online expert. AACC would like to thank Bayer HealthCare
Diagnostics for making this program possible.  You refer to
azithromycin and pravastatin as "safer" somatic agents. What
makes them safer? Washington, DC  Neil Sandson: Azithromycin is
"safer" than its fellow macrolides (erythromycin and
clarithromycin) in that it is not an inhibitor of either P450
3A4 or P-glycoprotein, and therefore less apt to increase the
levels of any 3A4 or P-gP substrates. The other macrolides are
potent inhibitors of both. Ooops. I forgot to address the
pravastatin part. Pravastatin relies on phas