Utility and application of urine drug testing in chronic pain management with opioids.

Clin J Pain

Bertino Consulting, Schenectady, NY, USA.

Published: January 2009

Objectives: Important scientific principles of pain medicine pharmacology affect urine drug testing (UDT). This paper reviews sources of variability in pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, pharmacogenetics, and issues relating to the collection, handling, and assay of urine and how these factors may affect test interpretation and application.

Methods: Articles concerning the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacogenetics of opioids are reviewed and interpreted for pain clinicians who treat patients with chronic opioid therapy. These data are applied to the use of UDT.

Results: Intraindividual and interindividual variability in drug metabolizing enzyme activity due to genetic polymorphisms or environmental effects can result in day-to-day and patient-to-patient variability in drug exposure. Transporters, also under genetic and environmental control, can play an important role in opioid response and contribute to the significant variability in opioid pharmacokinetics and response. The use of urine creatinine concentration to adjust urine drug concentrations, discussion of UDT assays, and application of UDT in light of an understanding of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacogenetics are reviewed. In addition, the methodology used for testing has an important role in accuracy. Because of these factors, UDT cannot be used to determine patient compliance with a specific opioid dose.

Discussion: UDT, when used with an understanding of the principles of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacogenetics of opioids, can be a useful tool in chronic pain management. Clinicians must keep in mind the limitations, purpose, and value of UDT, and the inability to predict patient compliance with a drug dosage using commercial algorithms.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/AJP.0b013e31817e13ccDOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

pharmacokinetics pharmacodynamics
16
pharmacodynamics pharmacogenetics
16
urine drug
12
drug testing
8
chronic pain
8
pain management
8
pharmacogenetics opioids
8
variability drug
8
patient compliance
8
drug
6

Similar Publications

Pharmacologic Management of Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF) in Older Adults.

Drugs Aging

January 2025

Program for the Care and Study of the Aging Heart, Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, 420 East 70th St, New York, NY, LH-36510063, USA.

There are several pharmacologic agents that have been touted as guideline-directed medical therapy for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). However, it is important to recognize that older adults with HFpEF also contend with an increased risk for adverse effects from medications due to age-related changes in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of medications, as well as the concurrence of geriatric conditions such as polypharmacy and frailty. With this review, we discuss the underlying evidence for the benefits of various treatments in HFpEF and incorporate key considerations for older adults, a subpopulation that may be at higher risk for adverse drug events.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) in inflammatory rheumatic diseases (RMDs) is gaining interest. However, there are unresolved questions about the best practices for implementing TDM effectively in clinical settings.

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate whether early TDM of adalimumab predicts drug survival at 52 weeks in patients with RMDs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A 2024 Update on US FDA Implementation of Partial Area Under the Curve Into Bioavailability and Bioequivalence Assessments.

Clin Pharmacol Ther

January 2025

Office of Research and Standards, Office of Generic Drugs, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.

Comparisons of maximum drug concentration (C) and total area under the concentration vs. time curve (AUC) may be inadequate for bioavailability (BA)/bioequivalence (BE) assessments in cases where the shape of the pharmacokinetic (PK) profile of a drug impacts the clinical performance. In such cases, partial area under the concentration vs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Antibodies targeting either the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), such as galcanezumab, fremanezumab, and eptinezumab, or the receptor (erenumab) have been approved for the prevention of episodic and chronic migraine. Although widely used and generally effective, a proportion of patients discontinue treatment due to lack of efficacy. In both randomized controlled trials and observational studies, all anti-CGRP monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have consistently demonstrated comparable efficacy and tolerability, suggesting a pharmacological class effect.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The approved intravenous adeno-associated virus (AAV) therapies are limited by the widespread prevalence of pre-existing anti-AAV antibodies in the general population, which are known to restrict patients' ability to receive gene therapy and limit transfection efficacy in vivo. To address this challenge, we have developed a novel recombinant human immunoglobulin G degrading enzyme KJ103, characterized by low immunogenicity and clinical value for the elimination of anti-AAV antibodies in gene transfer. Herein, we conducted two randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled, single ascending dose Phase I studies in China and New Zealand, to evaluate the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, safety and immunogenicity of KJ103 in healthy volunteers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!