Wat is een farmascoop?
Een farmascoop is de functionele eenheid van Brainmapp en de visuele samenvatting van 4 essentiële kenmerken van de farmacodynamiek van elk medicijn.
Targets
De verschillende aangrijpingspunten van het medicijn
Bindingsaffiniteit
De kracht van de in vitro binding op basis van de Ki-waarde
Intrinsieke Activiteit
Klinische Relevantie
De link tussen de farmacodynamiek en de klinische effecten (werking en bijwerkingen) van elk medicijn
BRAINMAPP WHITEPAPER
Dr. Mathieu Vanfleteren, MD Psychiatrist
Mr. Frederik Stijnen
TARGET
The study of psychopharmacology is challenging given the lack of well-organized, objective and visual-based learning materials. Psychiatrists, general practitioners and medical students can easily get lost in the abundance of information on psychopharmacology that is often not very useful for clinical practice given the rather chaotic organization, difficult access or industry-influenced nature of the didactic information.
In this light the author (clinical psychiatrist) is currently developing an online, visual based drug profiling tool called ‘Brainmapp‘ in close conjunction with a graphic designer. This online (web)application links the pharmacodynamics of psychotropic drugs to their clinically relevant effects and side effects and has been developed independent from the pharmaceutical industry.
The aim of Brainmapp is improving psychiatrists’ skills in psychopharmacology, more specifically the field of pharmacodynamics (the study of how psychotropic drugs affect the human brain and body)
METHODS
We started with gathering basic scientific data regarding in vitro binding affinity (Ki values) for a range of psychiatric drugs. We did so by consulting the open source NIMH-funded ‘Ki databases’ located at http://kidbdev.med.unc.edu/databases/pdsp.php and https://www.bindingdb.org/bind/index.jsp
We ran a systematic search per drug and applied a mathematical algorithm to the Ki value to obtain a more user-friendly value between 0 (no affinity) and 5 (very high affinity) reflecting the differences in receptor and/or transporter affinity.
In a next step we developed a uniform visual framework called ‘Pharmascope‘ in which the affinity values (0-5) per clinically revelant target of the selected drug are represented.
Additionally we included the intrinsic activities (agonism, antagonism or partial antagonism) per target, using a systematic literature search for each drug using Pubmed and other relevant sources.
Last but not least we aimed at linking these data to the clinical effects and side effects, based on the current understanding and description of these links in the available scientific literature. In order to do so we combined data from classical textbooks in psychopharmacology1,2,3,4 with data from online queries using Pubmed and other relevant sources.
ABSTRACT
Brainmapp is an independently developed, online drug profiling tool and will be launched in the course of 2017 at www.brainmapp.be
Purpose of the application is to (re)educate mental health practioners in the art of psychopharmacology. Using a visual based approach our drug compendium will dynamically represent a range of psychotropic drugs showing their respective targets and clinical relevance.
Brainmapp is a constant work-in-progress and will grow and reiterate based on the expert user experience and feedback. To our knowledge, Brainmapp will be the first online, independent learning platform driven by a community of psychiatrists and other experts in psychopharmacology.
References
1 “Essential Psychopharmacology”, Stephen M. Stahl, Cambridge University press 2005
2 “Rang and Dale’s Pharmacology” H.P. Rang et al., Elsevier 2012
3 “Goodman and Gilman manual of pharmacology and therapeutics, 2nd edition”, Brunton et al., McGraw-Hill 2011
4 “Kaplan and Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry (2 Volume Set) 9th Edition” Wolters Kluwer 2009