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Tracy Hampton, PhD

JAMA. 2007;297:1305-1306.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

While adverse effects and drugs often go hand in hand, some of the complications that can arise from medication use have remained a mystery.

"A really big challenge in pharmacology is to establish which action of a drug is responsible for its clinical effect, whether it is a therapeutic or adverse effect," said Solomon Snyder, MD, of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in Baltimore.

Snyder and colleagues have taken on the challenge of elucidating an important adverse effect—major weight gain—often caused by certain atypical antipsychotic drugs (AAPDs) used for the treatment of schizophrenia (Kim SF et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. doi:10.1073/pnas.0611417104 [published online February 20, 2007]).

Researchers have discovered the mechanism by which certain atypical antipsychotic drugs cause major weight gain in some patients. (Photo credit: V. Burger/www.sciencesource.com)

The findings could be useful in the development of improved antipsychotic . . . [Full Text of this Article]

DIVERSE DRUG EFFECTS