[extropy-chat] Risks of Smart Drugs

[Robert J. Bradbury]

Also of importance is to realize that the use of such
drugs may have very specific individual effects.

It is clear that there are polymorphisms (gene variations)
in neuroreceptors and that individual responses may vary.
So while one person may respond positively another person
may respond very negatively.  The activity of a drug
may not only depend upon variations of the genes (and
therefore the proteins) in the brain but the differences
in the genes in the liver that metabolize the drugs as
well (which are quite significant).

There are something like 50+ enzymes in the liver that
are involved in drug metabolism.  There may be individual
genetic variations in each of those.  This determines what
your blood levels of a drug may be and how long the effect
of a drug lasts.

So the best way to look at this is that old saying:
  "Your mileage may vary".

And if you run out of gas in the middle of the desert
the experience may be very unpleasant.  Its probably
going to take 10-15 years to accumulate enough information
in databases with respect to drug-genotype interactions
to provide even minimal predictive capacity with respect
to most drugs.

Robert