Healthcare Glossary

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Drug-drug interaction

This is the modification of the effect of a drug when administered with another drug. The effect may be an increase or a decrease in the action of either substance, or it may be an adverse effect that is not normally associated with either drug.

Generally, recommendations are to avoid drug interactions due to the possibility of undesirable or unexpected results, although productive economic success can be attributed to drug-drug interaction, when a more expensive drug is interacted with another less expensive one to produce a more affordable product for public consumption. Drug- drug interactions may be the result of various processes. These may include alterations in the pharmacokinetics of the drug,  in the Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion (ADME) of a drug. It may also be the result of the pharmacodynamic properties of the drug, e.g. the co-administration of a receptor antagonist and an agonist for the same receptor.

See also:
Distribution
Clinical trial
Effectiveness
Efficacy
Experimental Drug
Adverse Event
Adverse Reaction