Individualized drug and dose: the clinical pharmacologist's calling or curse?

1. The role of the clinical pharmacologist is to promote the rational, safe and effective use of medicines. This revolves around the notion of variability, between and within patients and between and within drugs, in terms of both pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Ideal therapeutics involves tailoring the drug and its dosing to the individual patient, taking into account this variability. 2. In the 25 years of my membership of the Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists, three themes have dominated my research: (i) drugs and breast feeding; (ii) aminoglycoside dosing; and (iii) pharmacogenetics. In all these, the research has been orientated towards identifying factors involved in variability and working towards dose individualization based on the understanding of these factors. 3. Our model for predicting drug concentrations in milk has assisted not only in estimating the safety of drug ingestion via breast milk, but also in the understanding of the processes involved in drug transfer. 4. The aminoglycoside studies have assisted in the understanding of the basis behind extended interval dosing, leading to a model for dose prediction that is widely used, especially in Australasia. 5. Pharmacogenetics is a field widely acclaimed as having a huge future in terms of individualization of drug therapy. Our early studies in this area lend only cautious support to this optimism.