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Open Access Clinical standards for the dosing and management of TB drugs

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BACKGROUND: Optimal drug dosing is important to ensure adequate response to treatment, prevent development of drug resistance and reduce drug toxicity. The aim of these clinical standards is to provide guidance on ‘best practice´ for dosing and management of TB drugs.

METHODS: A panel of 57 global experts in the fields of microbiology, pharmacology and TB care were identified; 51 participated in a Delphi process. A 5-point Likert scale was used to score draft standards. The final document represents the broad consensus and was approved by all participants.

RESULTS: Six clinical standards were defined: Standard 1, defining the most appropriate initial dose for TB treatment; Standard 2, identifying patients who may be at risk of sub-optimal drug exposure; Standard 3, identifying patients at risk of developing drug-related toxicity and how best to manage this risk; Standard 4, identifying patients who can benefit from therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM); Standard 5, highlighting education and counselling that should be provided to people initiating TB treatment; and Standard 6, providing essential education for healthcare professionals. In addition, consensus research priorities were identified.

CONCLUSION: This is the first consensus-based Clinical Standards for the dosing and management of TB drugs to guide clinicians and programme managers in planning and implementation of locally appropriate measures for optimal person-centred treatment to improve patient care.

Keywords: adverse drug reaction; dosing; management; pharmacodynamics; pharmacokinetics; tuberculosis

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia, School of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia 2: School of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia, Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, St Vincent´s Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia, St Vincent´s Clinical Campus, University of NSW, Kensington, NSW, Australia 3: Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden, Department of Infectious Diseases Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Sweden 4: Desmond Tutu TB Centre, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg, South Africa, Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 5: Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA 6: Department of Pharmacy, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences & Radboudumc Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands 7: University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Pulmonary Diseases and Tuberculosis, Groningen, The Netherlands, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Tuberculosis Center Beatrixoord, Haren, The Netherlands 8: Educational Institution “Grodno State Medical University”, Grodno, Belarus 9: Asian Harm Reduction Network (AHRN) and Medical Action Myanmar (MAM) in Yangon, Myanmar 10: Belgian Scientific Institute for Public Health (Belgian Lung and Tuberculosis Association), Brussels, Belgium 11: Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis-International Center for Excellence in Research, Chennai, India 12: Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands, Department of Public Health TB Control, Metropolitan Public Health Services, The Hague, The Netherlands 13: Laboratório de Inovações em Terapias, Ensino e Bioprodutos (LITEB), Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 14: Servizio di Epidemiologia Clinica delle Malattie Respiratorie, Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS), Tradate, Italy 15: Department of Medicine, Therapeutics and Dermatology, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya, Department of Clinical Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK 16: Emerging Bacterial Pathogens Unit, Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy 17: Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia, Parramatta Chest Clinic, Parramatta, NSW, Australia 18: Public Health Consulting Group, Lugano, Switzerland 19: Reference Center Hélio Fraga, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 20: Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa 21: Centre for Lung Infection and Immunity, Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonology and UCT Lung Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, University of Cape Town Lung Institute & South African MRC Centre for the Study of Antimicrobial Resistance, Cape Town, South Africa, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK 22: Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, Glebe, NSW, Australia 23: Desmond Tutu TB Centre, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg, South Africa 24: Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK 25: Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia, Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, The Children´s Hospital at Westmead, Westmead, NSW, Australia 26: Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands 27: Antimicrobial Pharmacodynamics and Therapeutics, Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK 28: Clínica de Tuberculosis, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Ciudad de México, Mexico 29: Division of Paediatric Respirology, Department of Child Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Padjadjaran, Hasan Sadikin Hospital, Bandung, Indonesia 30: Infectious Disease Translational Research Programme, Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (iHealthtech), National University of Singapore, Singapore, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore 31: German Central Committee against Tuberculosis (DZK), Berlin, Germany 32: Infectious Disease Pharmacokinetics Laboratory, Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research, University of Florida College of Pharmacy, Gainesville, FL, USA 33: Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil 34: TB/HIV Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung, Indonesia, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Division of Pharmacology and Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung, Indonesia 35: Division of Respirology and Critical Care, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Padjadjaran/Hasan Sadikin General Hospital, Bandung, Indonesia 36: Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA 37: Department of TB & Respiratory Diseases, National Institute of TB & Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi, India 38: Department of Pharmacy, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences & Radboudumc Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, Department of Pharmacy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden 39: The Republican Research and Practical Centre for Pulmonology and TB, Minsk, Belarus 40: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, TB Reference Laboratory (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands 41: Department of Pulmonary Immunology, University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, TX, USA 42: Infectious Diseases Unit, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Bologna, Italy, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy 43: Blizard Institute, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK 44: P. D. Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Mumbai, India 45: National Drug Information and Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Centre, Hanoi University of Pharmacy, Hanoi, Vietnam 46: Department of Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Biosafety Emergency Response, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, People´s Republic of China 47: Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, Moshi, United Republic of Tanzania, Kibong´oto Infectious Diseases Hospital, Sanya Juu, Siha, Kilimanjaro, United Republic of Tanzania 48: Department of Infectious Diseases, Linköping University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden, Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Division of Infection and Inflammation, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden, Department of Infectious Diseases, Kalmar County Hospital, Kalmar, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

Publication date: 01 June 2022

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