Drug Monograph on Rifampicin - page 8
Keywords: rifampicin, drug monograph, pharmacology, efficay, therapeutic uses, pharmacodynamics, Prophylaxis of meningococcal meningitis rifampin rifadin SA infections tuberculosis essay on rifampicin pharmacokinetics absorption distribution matabolism excretion bmj referecing
By Einstein10 on 30/12/2009
Level: Foundation Degree
Page Number: 8 of 11 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
and The Oral Contraceptive Pill
Rifampicin can potentially reduce the efficacy of the oral contraceptive pill because estradiol levels can be reduced by rifampicin-mediated CYP3A induction. Rifampicin is a potent inducer of estrogen-metablolising enzymes in the endoplasmic reticulum of the liver. When patients are treated with Rifampicin with a usual dose of 60mg/day, hepatic cytochrome-p450 3A4 (oestrogen-metaboliser) increases by 2-3 folds. Therefore, this shows that rifampicin induces the estrogen-2-hydroxylase in the endoplasmic reticulum of human liver, and explains the markedly reduced effectiveness of estrogens in contraceptives, if the patients are treated with rifampicin. Taking Rifampicin with a contraceptive pill could lead to unintentional conception. 44
Summary
Rifampicin is considered first line treatment for tuberculosis (TB) and should be prescribed as part of a multi drug regime for the treatment of the disease. The drug should not be prescribed as a single agent due to the increased resistance associated with the drug. 21
Research into the delivery system of rifampicin has shown that encapsulation of the drug within a lung specific stealth liposome showed to be more effective against Mycobacterium than the free drug 5.
Further research has shown that administering ant tuberculosis drugs in combination via a liposomal drug carrier system at one third of the therapeutic dose results in a greater reduction in the number of bacteria opposed o administering free drug 5
From this it can be concluded that delivering rifampicin as well other antituberculosis drugs via a drug liposomal carrier system could prove beneficial in improving compliance of patients, a reduction in the dose required resulting in decreased side effects of the therapy and a reduction in the cost of the treatment.
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