Several anticancer drugs display characteristics that make them suitable candidates for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), including substantial pharmacokinetic variability and a narrow therapeutic index. However, concentration-effect relationships (pharmacodynamics) of most antineoplastic agents have not been well defined, thus limiting the widespread clinical application of TDM for cancer che...

Therapeutic molecules possessing distinct pharmacokinetic variation, narrow therapeutic index and concentration dependent therapeutic/adverse effects demand constant monitoring. The current methods for blood sampling are invasive and possess low patient compliance. Human skin, selective and effective membrane to chemical permeation, offers an alternative route for the extraction of endogenous m...

Drug monitoring as a means to adapt the dosage of antiepileptic drugs to achieve a particular concentration in blood is well documented. However, there are few studies showing the extent to which drug monitoring contributes toward greater effectiveness in epilepsy treatment as measured by better seizure control. The findings of SBU Alert show that there is currently poor* evidence to demonstrat...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW There are an expanding number of therapies available to treat pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). As pediatric gastroenterologists attempt to achieve complete intestinal mucosal healing for their patients, it has become more important to gain an understanding of how to maximize the efficacy of our medications while minimizing their toxicities. We aim to provide an over...

The fact that resources for health care are limited has been found as a rationale for the development of pharmacoeconomics. Pharmacoeconomic analysis identifies, measures and compares the costs and the economic, clinical and humanistic outcomes of diseases, drug therapies and programmes directed to these diseases. As health care expenditures have escalated over the past decades, the number of i...

M ycophenolic acid (MPA)-based therapies are widely used in combination with calcineurin inhibitors as maintenance immunosuppression for kidney transplant recipients (1). The two MPA therapies used in clinical transplantation are mycophenolate mofetil (MMF [brand name CellCept, Roche Pharmaceuticals, Nutley, NJ]) and mycophenolate sodium (MPS [brand name Myfortic, Norvartis Pharmaceuticals, Nut...

The role of liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) techniques in routine therapeutic drug monitoring activity is becoming increasingly important. This paper reviews LC-MS methods published in the last few years for certain classes of drugs subject to therapeutic drug monitoring: immunosuppressants, antifungal drugs, antiretroviral drugs, antidepressants and antipsychotics....

1. Reinshagen M, Schutz E, Armstrong VW, Behrens C, von Tirpitz C, Stallmach A, et al. 6-thioguanine nucleotide-adapted azathioprine therapy does not lead to higher remission rates than standard therapy in chronic active Crohn disease: results from a randomized, controlled, open trial. Clin Chem 2007;53:1306–14. 2. Shipkova M, Armstrong VW, Wieland E, Oellerich M. Differences in nucleotide hydr...

which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In their recent large, retrospective, cross-sectional study with 7702 renal-transplant patients, Einollahi et al. showed that cyclosporine (CsA) absorption (CA) steadily increases over 3 years post transplant (1). They also indicated that despite the day-today and inter-in...

Epilepsy is a common public health problem and needs multi-disciplinary treatment. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is one of step of the multi-disciplinary treatment in epilepsy at Epilepsy clinic, Khon Kaen University (Thailand). The TDM service has been established since 2008. Here, we aimed to study the roles of TDM order and epilepsy control. This is a prospective descriptive study in whi...