Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) is the process of measuring the concentration of a drugin blood and then correlating it clinically in order to optimize the therapy for the patient. Itstarted in the 1960s and the last three decades have seen enormous spurt in the number ofhospitals and laboratories routinely doing it in order to provide greater insights into factors thatdetermine a patient’s response to drug therapy. It is done mainly for drugs with narrow marginof safety, whose therapeutic effects cannot be quantified clinically. Suitable analytical tests likeHigh Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Immunoassays are available to detectdrug or its metabolites and the results are then interpreted in the context of the condition of thepatient. It serves as a useful tool to provide tailor made optimal drug therapy to the patient,thereby maximizing the efficacy and minimizing the side effects.

Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) is the process of measuring the concentration of a drugin blood and then correlating it clinically in order to optimize the therapy for the patient. Itstarted in the 1960s and the last three decades have seen enormous spurt in the number ofhospitals and laboratories routinely doing it in order to provide greater insights into factors thatdetermine a patient’s response to drug therapy. It is done mainly for drugs with narrow marginof safety, whose therapeutic effects cannot be quantified clinically. Suitable analytical tests likeHigh Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Immunoassays are available to detectdrug or its metabolites and the results are then interpreted in the context of the condition of thepatient. It serves as a useful tool to provide tailor made optimal drug therapy to the patient,thereby maximizing the efficacy and minimizing the side effects.