BETHLEHEM, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Saladax Biomedical Inc., a diagnostics company providing kits to test drug blood levels for personalized dose management and adherence, announced today that it welcomes new guidelines from the International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology (IATDMCT) that “strongly recommend” monitoring levels of 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) in patients on treatment.
5-FU is a commonly used chemotherapy drug that is the backbone of treatment regimens for colorectal cancer, other gastroenterology cancers, head and neck cancer and other solid cancers. The publication is a rigorous examination of the literature data on the benefits of 5-FU therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). TDM is the measurement of drug levels in blood. Its greatest value is for drugs that, when overdosed, can be severely toxic and, when under dosed, are ineffective. Clinical studies have demonstrated that TDM improves treatment by lowering toxicity and improving effectiveness. The IATDMCT paper examined the evidence for using TDM and strongly recommends TDM for the management of patients on 5-FU therapy.
This article is available at https://ascpt.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cpt.1124
Presently, 5-FU is dosed based on a formula, dating back to 1916, using body surface area (BSA). Numerous studies have shown that this method is inaccurate with respect to drug dosing and leads to wide variability of drug levels in patients. In fact, the majority of patients are not getting the correct dose and are suffering undo toxicity or lack of efficacy. “It’s the dirty little secret in oncology that needs to be exposed,” said Dr. Salvatore J. Salamone, Founder and CEO of Saladax Biomedical. “We are pleased to see the IATDMCT TDM recommendations for patients being treated with 5-FU.”
Please find the full press release here.
To learn more about tests for chemotherapy TDM, please visit Saladax.com or MyCareTests.com.
About Saladax
Founded in 2004, Saladax Biomedical, Inc. is a privately held company headquartered as an anchor tenant with Ben Franklin TechVentures® located on Lehigh University’s campus in Bethlehem, PA. Saladax develops novel blood tests that increase the impact of personalized medicine by bringing chemotherapeutic drug monitoring to oncologists and adherence testing to psychiatrists. Saladax believes that truly personalized medicine can only exist when the right drug is given at the right dose. Our diagnostic reagents and kits are distributed worldwide as CE marked and RUO versions. Saladax is ISO 13485:2003 certified.
