Why Are Pharmacokinetic Drug-Drug Interactions “Not Seen?
” First, lets review some general background. Obviously, adverse drug-drug interactions often occur in a complex medical setting; the patient may have more than one illness or an illness that has been refractory to monodrug therapy.1 Hence, the physician must often consider multiple possible explanations for the adverse event, including the underlying illness, the development of a new illness, or a problem with the patients “sensitivity” or “resistance” to the treatment regimen. In addition to these possibilities, the adverse outcome may also be due to an untoward interaction among the drugs the patient is taking. In the case of pharmacodynamic interactions, the effects of one drug on its site(s) of action may amplify or diminish the response of the patient to the effect of a coprescribed drug on its site(s) of action (e.g., a serotonin uptake inhibitor and a monoamine oxidase inhibitor). In the case of a pharmacokinetic interaction, one drug may alter the absorption, distribution, met
” First, lets review some general background. Obviously, adverse drug-drug interactions often occur in a complex medical setting; the patient may have more than one illness or an illness that has been refractory to monodrug therapy.1 Hence, the physician must often consider multiple possible explanations for the adverse event, including the underlying illness, the development of a new illness, or a problem with the patients “sensitivity” or “resistance” to the treatment regimen. In addition to these possibilities, the adverse outcome may also be due to an untoward interaction among the drugs the patient is taking. In the case of pharmacodynamic interactions, the effects of one drug on its site(s) of action may amplify or diminish the response of the patient to the effect of a coprescribed drug on its site(s) of action (e.g., a serotonin uptake inhibitor and a monoamine oxidase inhibitor). In the case of a pharmacokinetic interaction, one drug may alter the absorption, distribution, met
