Pharmacogenomics a way towards personalized medicine

Pharmacogenomics is the study of how an individual's genetic inheritance affects the body's response to drugs. Pharmacogenomic studies will produce benefits for both clinical research and standard practice. The larger potential advantages include the discovery of better drugs, elimination of poor candidate drugs early in the development process, and dramatic decreases in the size and expense of clinical trials. In pharmacogenomics instead of advising patients about potential side effects, pharmacists will determine what drugs are ideal for that patient, based on their genetic information. Pharmacist's historical role in drug advice and selection would make pharmacogenetic screening fit into the pharmacist's scope of practice

Communication: Matrix type transdermal drug delivery systems of metoprolol tartrate: skin toxicity and in vivo characterization

Transdermal drug delivery systems (TDDS) of metoprolol were previously fabricated and evaluated in vitro. The TDDS was composed of polymers Eudragit RL 100 and polyvinyl pyrrolidone K-30 in 8:2; 4:6; 6:4 and 2:8 fractions in formulations MT-1; MT-2 MT-3 and MT-4; respectively. All formulations carried 10

Skin permeation studies

Skin permeation studies are handy tools for assessing the feasibility of transdermal delivery of drugs as well as the permeation profile of the test drugs through skin. As more and' more drugs are being scrutinized for this type of drug delivery, the validity of skin permeation studies is gaining momentum. If a drug is highly skin permeable, it can be incorporated into the transdermal systems as such. Conversely, skin penetration enhancing methods are a necessity for poorly skin permeable drugs

Clinical study of rheum emodi, ammonium chloride and potassium nittrate in drug induced hepatotoxicity of tubercular patients

A number of anti-tubercular drugs are used for the treatment of tuberculosis for a long duration of time. Most common drug combination for the short course chemotherapy is Rifampicin, Pyrazinamide, Isoniazid, and Ethambutol. In the long-term therapy, these drugs cause hepatotoxicity due to their adverse effects i.e. hepatitis, hepatic insufficiency, cholestatic hepatitis and fulminant hepatitis. Several Unani drugs have been reported as hepatoprotective agents, such as kasni, afsantin, zafran, nagar motha, gul-e-ghafis, naushader, shora qalmi, revand chini etc. In the present research work a powdered formulation containing revand chini [Rheum emodi], naushader [Ammonium chloride] and shora qalmi [Potassium nitrate] was prepared and studied clinically along with the anti-tubercular drugs during the first month of the treatment of tuberculosis in male and female subjects. The blood samples of the patients were collected before and after treatment and estimated for liver function tests i.e. serum bilirubin, serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase [SGPT] and serum alkaline phosphates [SAP]. The patients were also observed for subjective/symptomatic parameters e.g. nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, constipation, flatulence and hepatomegaly. Hepatomegaly was examined by the physician and other parameters were recorded in the follow-up. Significant hepatoprotective effects were observed in both male and female subjects, although more prominent effects were observed in female subjects. The other symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, constipation, flatulence and hepatomegaly were reduced in the ATT+Unani treatment groups as compared with anti-tuberculosis treatment alone. In conclusion, the Unani formulation along with the anti-tubercular drug treatment was found beneficial in reducing the side effects of anti-tubercular drugs on liver of the patients