What is a narrow therapeutic index? What are narrow-Therapeutic index drugs?
Some drugs act differently than others.A small change in dose or blood concentration can lead to vastly different therapeutic outcomes for some drugs.Close monitoring is required for these drugs.
The medicines have a narrow therapeutic index, which is a window in which they act in the way they were prescribed.A prescriber may want to change the dose.A small change in dose can have a big impact.The effects of NTI drugs are less predictable.Patients need to be monitored to make sure there are no adverse drug reactions.
Warfarin is used to treat and prevent blood clot.The patients are monitored using the international normalized ratio.If a patient is not on warfarin therapy, a normal INR reading is between 0.8 and 1.2.The anticoagulation target can be set between 2 and 3.A small change in dose can lead to over-coagulation and increase the risk of bleeding.There is a correlation between the patient's diet and where warfarin falls within monitoring.
Other narrow-therapeutic index drugs require the same type of close monitoring.Drug levels in the blood must also be monitored.Patients taking clozapine must be monitored for a severe form of low white blood cell count called agranulocytosis.The drug must be monitored using the APPT.Some drugs are monitored differently.
The FDA requires more stringent quality and standards in order to ensure the safety and efficacy of these drugs.
Below is a list of some of the most commonly encountered narrow-therapeutic index drugs in the pharmacy setting.
Let's take a look at the top 20 NTI medicines and their indications.
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