Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM)
and therapy personalization
We perform THC and other cannabinoid analysis
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) is a clinical laboratory tool to guide drug prescription after an appropriate medical interpretation. This practice has been routinely performed in clinical laboratories since the mid-1970s, and aims to individuate optimal drug dosage by maintaining plasma or blood concentrations within a targeted therapeutic range; in this way, clinicians are able to individualize therapeutic regimens for optimal patient benefits and minimize the chance of toxicity.
Pharmacokinetic parameters
TDM integrates pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic knowledge at an individual patient level considering different pharmacokinetic parameters:
THERAPEUTIC RANGE:
The concentration of drug at which the patient will experience the desired clinical effect with a minimum of undesirable or adverse reactions. It could be defined considering two parameters: MEC (minimum effective concentration) and MTC (maximum tolerated concentration) that respectively represent the minimum concentration needed to produce the desired pharmacological effect and the upper limit of concentration beyond which concentration-related adverse events are intolerable.
THERAPEUTIC INDEX:
indicate the safety of a drug and it is defined by LD50/ED50, where LD50 is the lethal dose of the drug in 50% of the population and ED50 is the effective dose of the drug in 50% of the population.
AUC (Area Under the concentration/time Curve)
is the Area Under the concentration/time Curve; it represents the overall systemic exposure of the drug.
Cmax:
maximum concentration achieved, is a function of the rate of drug absorption.
Steady state
Situation where the overall intake of a drug is fairly in dynamic equilibrium with its elimination; the time required to reach this state depends only on the half-life of the drug. When steady state is reached is possible to measure the Ctrough.
Ctrough:
It represents the plasma concentration of a drug measured shortly before taking the next dose.
Our laboratory performs TDM for different drugs categories:
- ANTI-INFECTIVES (Antibiotici, Antifungini, Antivirali, ecc)
- ANTIPSYCOTICS
- ANTIHYPERTENSIVES
- ANTITUMORALS
- BIOLOGICAL DRUGS (Monoclonal antibodies)
Contact us for more information
- Corso Svizzera 185 bis Fabbricato 3 - Scala C - 3° Piano
- info@coqualab.it
- +39 338 9013071
- +39 393 9036546
- +39 011 0161875
Lab opening hours
Lab: mon – fri: 09 – 17
Acceptance of samples: mon – fri: 09 – 15
Closed on saturdays and sundays.