ABSTRACT
During the last 20 years, the general problem of pharmacokinetic drug interactions has received increasing attention. Over this period a number of new and unique classes of medications have been introduced into clinical practice. Principal objective of the drug development process is generation of scientific information on drug interactions so that treating physicians will have the data necessary to proceed with safe clinical treatment involving more than one medication. In vitro data are becoming increasingly important as an approach to identifying which drug interactions are probable, possible, or unlikely, and thereby allow more informed planning of actual clinical studies. A pharmacodynamic interaction involves either inhibition or enhancement of the clinical effects of the victim drug as a consequence of similar or identical end-organ actions. Given the prevalence of polypharmacy in clinical practice, noninteractions of drugs are far more common than interactions. The intrinsic kinetic properties of the victim drug also influence the potential clinical consequences of an interaction.
