The personalization of drug therapy for elderly patients

Abstract

Personalized drug therapy, described as tailoring the selection of drug and drug dosing to a given patient in order to optimize efficacy and minimize toxicity, has been a longstanding goal in medicine. This goal has been met at various levels of success for different patients and patient populations. While specific dosing regimens and labeling recommendations based on clinical trial data are available for adults, they are frequently lacking for pediatrics and geriatrics. These special patient populations are clinically understudied resulting in a lack of data to be used for establishing respective optimal drug and dosing regimen. While regulators around the globe have responded to this unmet medical need by establishing or updating pediatric guidance documents, the situation is much less evolved for geriatrics. However, there is a plethora of ongoing research, which ranges from reaching expert consensus to genotyping frailty that is geared towards improving the situation. The objective of this book chapter is to introduce and discuss personalized medicine approaches for the elderly patient.