09 HIGH ON LIFE

Drugs are usually developed accord ing to perfect adherence. According to the graph, strict patient adherence to drug therapy and successful execution of drug therapy lead to cent percent coverage. Fall in adherence was caused by discontinuation of the drug therapy. Another dip in the coverage was caused by poor execution of dosage regimen.  Hence, we gather that the drug can be perfect in its functions only if patient obedience and perfect execution of the dosage regimen are achieved.  souce:https://www.capturerx.com/2019/11/medication-adherence-and-seed-grants/ SUMMARY:

A detailed understanding of drug administration in our body through plasma drug conc. vs time graph  Initial concentrations of the drugs  are too low to be effective the plasma concentration rises to within the therapeutic window As the daily dose is increased it shortens the time for the concentration within the therapeutic window, but, with the concentration still rises, eventually it becomes too high, and unacceptable toxicity ensues.  When a drug is  in body and is given at a certain dose for a fixed interval of time it keeps accumulating until it reaches the therapeutic window. The therapeutic range lies within this MSC(Maximum Safe Concentration) and MEC(Minimum Effective Concentration), in no condition the amt. of drug should be above the MSC level it could be toxic to the patient. With regimen A, therapeutic success is   achieved, although not initially. With regimen B, the therapeutic objective is achieved more quickly, but the drug concentration is u...

     The questions of How much? How often? How long?? and many more are answered by the drug's pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies. This will in turn result in better and safer use of drugs for treatment.     Empirical Approach in Designing Dosage Regimen     Earlier the dosage regimen of drugs was established through trial and error by adjusting factors such as dose, dose interval etc and then observing its effects. With this a regimen can be set up but with excessive side effects and ineffective therapy. It also doesn't explain the apparent difference in regimes for different drugs, nor the principles underlying that leads to effective dosage of other drugs. Rational Approach     With advancement, its now understood that its the concentrations at the active site that drive the responses rather than the dose and to obtain and sustain the response, appropriate exposure-time profile of the drug within the body needs to be generated. Th...