MINIMIZING DRUG TOXICITY

Abstract

In the first place, let us agree that the word poison does not exist, because in medicine use is made of the most violent poisons, which become, according as they are employed, most salutary remedies .—THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, ALEXANDRE DUMAS A TOXIC DRUG WAS A VALUABLE asset to the Count of Monte Cristo. In the novel of that name by Alexandre Dumas, the count uses a potentially toxic medication in a revenge plot against a public prosecutor who had sentenced him unjustly to life in prison. But to the modern drug industry, toxic medications are not assets at all but instead major liabilities. Toxicity prevents many compounds from being developed and approved. And it occasionally forces withdrawal of an approved drug from the market, a recent notable example being Merck's withdrawal of the arthritis drug Vioxx in 2004 owing to cardiovascular side effects. The drug industry expends considerable time and effort trying to ...