Journal of clinical pharmacy and therapeutics
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Lemierre's syndrome is often misdiagnosed as a common cold or viral infection. Fusobacterium necrophorum is the most common causative organism. The recommended treatment regimen is 6 weeks of a beta-lactam antibiotic along with metronidazole. ⋯ Two cases of Lemierre's syndrome were treated successfully with only 2-4 weeks of metronidazole therapy. Shorter duration of metronidazole therapy should be explored in future studies.
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Sodium cantharidinate has been widely used in lung cancer treatment in China. To investigate whether sodium cantharidinate improves clinical effectiveness in non-small-cell lung cancer, we systematically re-evaluated all related studies. ⋯ Current evidence reveals that sodium cantharidinate can improve tumour responses and QOL with a lower risk of haematotoxicity and gastrointestinal toxicity than chemotherapy alone in NSCLC. However, the evidence does not indicate that it can improve long-term survival rates.
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Review
Repurposing old drugs in oncology: Opportunities with clinical and regulatory challenges ahead.
In order to expedite the availability of drugs to treat cancers in a cost-effective manner, repurposing of old drugs for oncological indications is gathering momentum. Revolutionary advances in pharmacology and genomics have demonstrated many old drugs to have activity at novel antioncogenic pharmacological targets. We decided to investigate whether prospective studies support the promises of nonclinical and retrospective clinical studies on repurposing three old drugs, namely metformin, valproate and astemizole. ⋯ Well-designed prospective studies demonstrating efficacy are required for repurposing old drugs for oncology indications, just as they are for new chemical entities for any indication. Early and ongoing interactions with regulatory authorities are invaluable. We outline a tentative framework for a structured approach to repurposing old drugs for novel indications in oncology.
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Surveillance of drugs that most frequently induce acute kidney injury: A pharmacovigilance approach.
Acute kidney injury (AKI) often occurs in hospitalized patients, and it is an increasing problem worldwide. Recently, clinical studies have shown that there is a strong association between drug-induced AKI and poor outcomes, including the progression of chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease; however, limited data are available on drug-induced AKI. The purpose of this study was to clarify the rank-order of the association of all drugs with AKI using a spontaneous reporting system database. ⋯ A comprehensive study using a pharmacovigilance database enabled us to identify the drugs that most frequently induce AKI, raising physicians' awareness of the drugs in use for patients with potentially decreased renal function.