Prague Med. Rep. 2024, 125, 101-129

https://doi.org/10.14712/23362936.2024.10

Evidence for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Atypical Antipsychotics

Veronika Krejčí1,2, Irena Murínová1,3, Ondřej Slanař2, Martin Šíma2

1Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Military University Hospital Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
2Institute of Pharmacology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General University Hospital in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
3Department of Applied Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Received January 30, 2024
Accepted May 7, 2024

Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs), also known as atypical antipsychotics, are a newer class of antipsychotic drugs used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and related psychiatric conditions. The plasma concentration of antipsychotic drugs is a valid measure of the drug at its primary target structure in the brain, and therefore determines the efficacy and safety of these drugs. However, despite the well-known high variability in pharmacokinetics of these substances, psychiatric medication is usually administered in uniform dosage schedules. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), as the specific method that can help personalised medicine in dose adjustment according to the characteristics of the individual patient, minimizing the risk of toxicity, monitoring adherence, and increasing cost-effectiveness in the treatment, thus seems to be an elegant tool to solve this problem. Non-response to therapeutic doses, uncertain adherence to medication, suboptimal tolerability, or pharmacokinetic drug-drug interactions are typical indications for TDM of SGAs. This review aims to summarize an overview of the current knowledge and evidence of the possibilities to tailor the dosage of selected SGAs using TDM, including the necessary pharmacokinetic parameters for personalised pharmacotherapy.

Funding

This study was supported by the Charles University Project Cooperatio (research area PHAR).

References

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