Therapeutic drug monitoring of mycophenolate in adult solid organ transplant patients: an update

Introduction: Mycophenolate (MPA) therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) in adult solid organ transplant recipients was summarized extensively in consensus reports published between 2009 and 2011. Thus, this review provides an update on the science of MPA TDM over the past 5 years.

Areas covered: PubMed and Google Scholar (January 2010-January 2016) were searched; relevant articles from bibliographies of identified articles were extracted for further review. New evidence on TDM-guided dosing in MPA efficacy and toxicity and best approaches for estimating MPA area-under-the-curve for TDM were retrieved.

Expert opinion: Since 2011, little advancement in consensus on MPA TDM has been established for any type of solid organ transplant. Lack of systematic studies validating or further defining MPA’s target range suggests that routine TDM is still unwarranted.

Accurate, precise, and user-friendly limited sampling strategies (LSSs) are available in specific patient populations taking mycophenolate mofetil but not enteric-coated mycophenolate sodium. In absence of outcome data, routine use of LSSs in MPA TDM still cannot be recommended.

Further research should attempt to define factors that modulate MPA’s pharmacokinetics to elucidate their impact on utility of TDM. Future studies should also validate LSSs in larger patient populations and demonstrate benefits of LSSs in improving patient outcomes.