Aim: The aim was to study the pattern of adverse drug reaction (ADR) provoked by anticancer therapy and to assess the quality of life (QoL) in cancer patients. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in Tamil Nadu on 75 patients from February to July 2019 taking into account their demographic profile, ADR occurrence and its causality, outcome, organ system-wise distribution of ADRs, and others. The causality assessment was done by using Naranjo's scale and QoL was assessed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) scale. The QoL was compared in any two consecutive cycles between the 2nd and 5th cycles of chemotherapy. Results: Out of the 75 patients, 17 male and 56 female patients developed ADR. A total of 228 ADRs were observed in 73 patients. The most commonly occurred ADR was nausea and vomiting (45%) and the most commonly affected system was gastrointestinal tract (37%). According to causality assessment, the ADR that occurred falls mostly in the category of probable (66.7%) followed by possible (29.3%) and the outcome of the ADR was mostly recovering (49.3%). The QoL was higher in females and in the age group of 40–49 years. The physical and emotional well-being of the patient were affected more. The overall QoL was improved in the 2nd visit when compared to the 1st visit. Conclusion: Cancer is known to cause a significant impact on the health and socioeconomics of a nation. To boost the QoL in patients, it is essential to identify and manage the ADRs by taking appropriate measures to promote judicious use of drugs.

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Objective: To evaluate the clinical pharmacist role in the prescription analysis, drug interaction and the impact of patient counseling in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Methods: A prospective study was conducted in 203 type II Diabetes Mellitus patients for a period of 6 mo in the Diabetology department. Prescriptions were analyzed and self-care assessment for good health practices were collected using a questionnaire and the adherence scores were calculated. Patient counseling was provided to the patient and a follow up was done using the same self care assessment questionnaire. Results: Out of 203 patients, 86 multiple therapy, 68 dual therapy and 49 monotherapy were observed. Glimepiride+Metformin (54), a combination of short acting and intermediate-acting insulin (41) was the most commonly prescribed drugs. Out of 1102 drugs, 488 were anti diabetic drugs, 35 were antibiotics, 579 were other drug classes prescribed. The drug interactions were reported. The adherence score shows a highly significant impact after counseling. Conclusion: The results of the current study helps to understand the changes in prescription pattern, drug interactions and the impact of patient counseling by a clinical pharmacist.

The objective of this study was to develop mucoadhesive tablets of Simvastatin using natural polymers. Simvastatin has short biological half-life and high first pass metabolism hence which was designed to increase the gastric residence time which prolong the drug release. The tablets were prepared by wet granulation technique using Carbopol-934, guar gum, xanthine gum and chitosin as polymers. Formulations were evaluated for different parameters like hardness, friability, uniformity of weight, swelling characteristics, in vitro dissolution and kinetic studies. The dissolution was carried out for 12 hours in which the formulation with guar gum has shown highest dissolution release profile (F9). Thus the present study concludes that mucoadhesive tablets of simvastatin can be a good way to pass the extensive hepatic first pass metabolism and to improve the bioavailability of simvastatin.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/icpj.v2i9.16077 International Current Pharmaceutical Journal, August 2013, 2(9): 152-155