Abstract

Pharmacokinetics (PK) is a branch of pharmacology present and of vital importance for the research and development (R&D) of new drugs, post-market monitoring, and continued optimizations in clinical contexts. Ultimately, pharmacokinetics can contribute to improving patients’ clinical outcomes, helping enhance the efficacy of treatments, and reducing possible adverse side effects while also contributing to precision medicine. This article discusses the methods used to predict and study human pharmacokinetics and their evolution to the current physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling and simulation methods. The importance of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) and PBPK as valuable tools for Model-Informed Precision Dosing (MIPD) are highlighted, with particular emphasis on antibiotic therapy since dosage adjustment of antibiotics can be vital to ensure successful clinical outcomes and to prevent the spread of resistant bacterial strains.

By Abigail Ferreira, Ruia Lapa, Nuno Vale