Read the March 2023 issue of CFTN
The presence of fentanyl in street drugs has significantly contributed to the largest drug overdose death toll in United States history. Until an effective strategy is developed to reduce the prevalence of fentanyl in street drugs, clinical laboratories can contribute to fentanyl detection and surveillance by offering effective testing strategies and educational efforts.
Targeted therapies have dramatically improved the treatment efficacy and reduced toxicity for cancer patients. During the treatment of metastatic melanoma with orally available small molecule kinase inhibitor drugs, certain severe toxicity side effects can lead to dose reduction in treated patients. The interplay between dose reduction and maximizing treatment efficacy suggests a potential clinical need to monitor the levels of these targeted therapy drugs and elucidate their association with treatment efficacy and toxicity.
Since its initial synthesis in 1962 as an antihypertensive drug, xylazine, a nonopioid veterinary tranquilizer, has increasingly been associated with opioid drug overdose deaths across North America. Xylazine is commonly used to potentiate the pharmacologic properties and duration of euphoria experienced with illegally manufactured synthetic drugs and may confer a competitive market advantage for illicit opioids that contain it.
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