How to take the exact right dose of medicine against cancer
“It’s amazing to see reflected in my research how much a fairly simple change can accomplish. In half of the patients blood drug concentrations can be too high or too low, even though they are prescribed the same dose for, for example, prostate cancer or gastrointestinal cancer. In my study this concerned roughly 300 out of 600 people. We measured the drug concentrations in their blood several times. At least one third of these people benefitted from a check to see whether they took their drugs as prescribed. We then investigated whether we could split their daily dose into two smaller doses taken at different times, or asked them to take their medicine together with their meals. If that wasn’t possible, or if it didn’t work, we would prescribe more drugs. Other patients benefitted from taking less: patients whose blood showed a high drug concentration and who experienced side effects.” Steffie will defend her thesis on February 4.