Re: Drug Interactions

From: JWALD@quintiles.com (Jeff Wald) Subject: Re: Drug Interactions Date: 19 Dec 1997 15:38:59 -0500 Conni - I agree, it makes more sense to look at categories based on functional similarities. It has been my understanding that therapeutic class categorizations of drugs is more an issue of convenience than based on any scientific rationale. Typically, drugs are coded by class in the scientific database for the purposes of the safety evaluation. To maintain consistency with the safety evaluation, and because it is already in the database, therapeutic class categories have been used for population PK/PD analyses. This may be the best way to handle PD analyses (ie, to find drugs that have a pure PD interaction). However, PK analyses may require their own coding methods. There are many different types of coding schemes that could be envisioned to answer PK questions such as specific CYP inhibitors or inducers, drugs that are highly bound to plasma proteins, etc... Perhaps the community needs a concomitant coding dictionary that includes meaningful categories for population PK analyses. Regards, Jeff Wald _____________________________________________________________ Quintiles, Incorporated Post Office Box 13979 Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709-3979 Phone 919-941-7245 Fax 919-941-0493 ****