• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.120-129
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• 2015

Objectives: Drug utilization review program in Korea has provided 'drug combinations to avoid (DCA)' alerts to physicians and pharmacists to prevent potential adverse drug events or inappropriate drug use. Seven hundred and six DCA pairs have been announced officially by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) by March, 2015. Some DCA pairs could be grouped based on the drug interaction mechanism and its consequences. This study aimed to investigate the drug-drug interaction (DDI) pairs, which may be potential DCAs, generated by the drug class-drug class interaction method. Methods: Eleven additive/synergistic and one antagonistic drug class-drug class interaction groups were identified. By combining drugs of two interacting drug class groups, numerous DDI pairs were made. The status and severity of DDI pairs were examined using Lexicomp and Micromedex. Also, the DCA listing rate was calculated. Results: Among 258 DDI pairs generated by the drug class-drug class interaction method, only 142 pairs were identified as official DCA pairs by the MFDS. One hundred and four pairs were identified as potential DCA pairs to be listed. QT prolonging agents-QT prolonging agents, triptans-ergot alkaloids, tricyclic antidepressants-monoamine oxidase inhibitors, and dopamine agonists-dopamine antagonists were identified as drug class-drug class interaction groups which have less than 50 % DCA listing rate. Conclusion: To improve the clinicians' adaptability to DCA alerts, the list of DCA pairs needs to be continuously updated.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.59 no.6
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• pp.278-283
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• 2015

The computerized prospective Drug Utilization Review (DUR) program supported by the Korean government has provided alerts to physicians and pharmacists since December 2010. This study aims to propose and apply the tiering system in "drug combinations to avoid (DCA)" and "age-precaution" alerts based on severity to improve the compliance of users. To propose the severity and clinical importance of 647 DCA alerts and 140 age precautions, a Delphi evaluation survey was conducted. An expert panel comprising 5 clinical pharmacists and 5 physicians were participated in mail surveys. Based on the results of Delphi survey, DCA pairs were classified into 3 groups; group 1 (70.6%), 2 (26.9%), and 3 (2.8%). Drug-age precaution ingredients were also classified into three groups; group 1 (53.6%), group 2 (40.7%), and group 3 (5.7%). When this grouping was applied to claim data from 2011 to 2013, the majority of alerts had occurred in the groups of high severity. Presenting DUR alerts with severity level is expected to improve the compliance of clinicians. The implementation of tiering system in DUR criteria should be considered.