Basic Principles of Drug Interaction

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There is nothing that is harmless ; the dose alone decides that something is no poison(Paracelsus, 1493-1541). So, in a point of view to maximize the therapeutic efficacy of drug therapy in a way that minimize the drug toxicity, the knowledges of the drug-ineractions as well as the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic principles of every therapeutic drug used in the medical clinic cannot be emphasized too much. Many drug interactions can be predicted if the pharmacokinetic properties, pharmacodynamic mechanisms of action of the interacting drugs are known, and most adverse interactions can be avoided. In this paper, the clinical importance, classification, and general principles of clinical drug-interactions are presentated with a few explanatory examples.