Woodman, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, tells WebMD that her colleague in Iowa, Ray R. Crowe, has been looking at anxiety disorders and their association with this gene. Mental assessment of the women showed 25 of them to have lifetime psychiatric illness and 11 had anxiety disorders, says Woodman. Woodman says another analysis showed that one-third of these women had the genetic mutation. Of the 11 patients who had anxiety disorder, seven had panic disorder and six of those seven had the mutation. In patients who have IBS and panic disorder, the mutation occurs in six of seven patients.
Woodman says the findings suggest new avenues for drug research.
Lotronex is in phase 3 fast-track stage, an accelerated final stage before the FDA approves it for prescription sales. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.