Point-of-Care for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Antineoplastic Drugs

Abstract

Med chem (Los Angeles) ISSN: 2161-0444 Med chem (Los Angeles), an open access journal Volume 6 • Issue 6 • 1000e108 M e d ic ina l che m is tr y In the clinical practice, therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) concerns the analytical determination of pharmaceutical drug concentrations in patients' bio-fluids at specific time intervals to allow a close and timely control of their dosage. This practice allows for rapid medical intervention in case of toxicity-related issues and/or adjustment of dosage to better fit the therapeutic demand. In the treatment of cancer diseases TDM becomes particularly important, since the antineoplastic drugs show a narrow range of efficacy between non-efficacy and toxicity, which is generally characterized by severe adverse effects. The therapy is strictly depending on each individual patient, their clinical conditions and characteristics (e.g., weight, age, etc.), and other concomitant drug therapy. Furthermore the pharmacokinetics of any drug is subject to metabolic processes that are finally related to the genomic profile of the patient. Hence, each patient might respond differently to the same therapy. It is then clear that the best results can be obtained when a personalized therapy becomes available. Clinical medicine has thus to face a challenging task aimed at personalized therapy and real time diagnostics.