Optimal Dose Identification: Proceedings of the Esteve Foundation Symposium IX, Lloret De Mar (Girona), Spain, 4-7 October 2000(v. 1220 International Congress S.)

These proceedings provide a general update in an important area of clinical pharmacology; describing how individual subjects vary in their response to drugs and how this information can be used to optimise drug dosing in disease. These proceedings cover areas such as the relevance of studies at various stages of drug development, in optimising drug dosing, the role that pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics play and how molecular biology has an increasingly important role in this area. As examples of how these influences may play a role, consideration is given to how drug dosing is optimised in various diseases such as cancer, psychiatric and cardiovascular disease, as well as considering the role that age may play in predicting drug dose. The major theme of this volume is that choosing the optimal dose of a drug has never been more important as risk and benefits must be carefully assessed. There are a series of underlying principles which help determine the optimal dose, and these are dealt with in a systematic manner, using relevant disease states to illustrate these principles.

Table of Contents:
About the Esteve Foundation. Introduction. The use of preclinical pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data to predict clinical doses: current and future perspectives (P. Morgan). Optimal dose identification: predicting a safe dose inman from animal studies (B.K. Park et al.). Clinical pharmacology of morphine and morphine-6-glucuronide. A PK/PD-modeling approach (J. Lostch). The use of cognitive tests to facilitate drug and dose selection in Phase I and to optimise dosing in Phase IV (K.A. Wesnes). Dose optimization in drug development: role of Phase IV trials (P.H. Joubert). PK/PD approach to dose selection (L.B. Sheiner). Mechanism-based modelling of CNS drug effect: from receptor pharmacology to clinical trial (M. Danhof). Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling in anesthesia (P.L. Gambus, I.F. Troconiz). Dose optimisation in pain control (H.J. McQuay). The dose-concentration-effect relationships - The basis for therapeutic drug monitoring. A critical appraisal (L.F. Gram). Medication non-compliance. When hard science meets soft science (G. Levy). Concentration controlled therapy (N.H.G. Holford). Therapeutic drug monitoring of anti-HIV drugs (D. Back et al.). The role of molecular biology in pharmacodynamic research (J. Oliver, D. Webb). Genetic and environmental causes for interindividual variability in drug pharmacokinetics (M. Ingelman-Sundberg). Genetic determinants of dose optimisation: Molecular biology in the prevention of drug toxicity (M. Pirmohamed, B.K. Park). Pharmacodynamics of cancer chemotherapy: Childhood ALL as a model (W.E. Evans). Dose optimisation in antidepressant drug development (J.F.W. Deakin). Effect of liver disease on dose optimisation (T. F. Blaschke). Optimal dose identification - the effect of age (S.H.D. Jackson). Final remarks. Index of authors. Keyword Index.