Therapeutic drug monitoring in oncology: International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology consensus guidelines for imatinib therapy

Although therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is an important tool in guiding drug dosing for other areas of medicine including infectious diseases, cardiology, psychiatry and transplant medicine, it has not gained wide acceptance in oncology. For imatinib and other tyrosine kinase inhibitors, a flat dosing approach is utilised for management of oral chemotherapy. There are many published studies examining the correlation of blood concentrations with clinical effects of imatinib. The International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology (IATDMCT) determined that there was a need to examine the published literature regarding utility of TDM in imatinib therapy and to develop consensus guidelines for TDM based on the available data. This article summarises the scientific evidence regarding TDM of imatinib, as well as the consensus guidelines developed by the IATDMCT.