94190 - Monitoring of Therapeutic and Doping Drugs

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will be able to design, follow and evaluate monitoring protocols dealing with the most important classes of drug used as therapeutic or doping agents, regarding either biological or non-biological matrices. Moreover, the student will acquire knowledge about the chemical-physical and analytical characteristics of the active agents of interest. The student will achieve the information and abilities needed to interact with dedicated personnel (e.g., healthcare professionals, law officers, athletes, team managers) to discuss monitoring data and their public and personal communication, and to elaborate the corresponding action plans.

Course contents

Therapeutic Drug Monitoring

General concepts: what is TDM (Therapeutic Drug Monitoring)? Advantages and drawbacks. How to carry out TDM in clinical practice. The role of metabolites of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Biological matrices used for TDM: plasma, serum, whole blood. Alternative matrices: oral fluid, hair. Sampling, pretreatment procedures, analytical methods.

Doping Drug Testing

General concepts: WADA and anti-doping agencies. Current Italian situation. The prohibited list. Information on prohibited drug categories and their analysis. The role of metabolites in anti-doping testing. Biological matrices used in anti-doping testing: urine, plasma. Sampling, pretreatment procedures, analytical methods. The role of food supplements in sports doping practices and what this means for fighting doping. Peculiarities of prohibited substances in food supplements.

Monitoring substances of abuse in doping. General concepts: substance of abuse classes and their effects. Laws on toxicological analysis of substances of abuse. The role of metabolites in substance of abuse monitoring. Biological matrices used in substance of abuse testing: urine, plasma, hair, serum, whole blood. Alternative matrices. Sampling, pretreatment procedures, analytical methods.

Case history

Discussion and explanation of real applications of the concepts presented in the course’s previous parts.

Seminars

One or two experts on the course's topics will be invited to explain their experience and approaches when dealing with the monitoring of therapeutic or doping drugs.

 

Readings/Bibliography

A. Carrieri (Ed.)
Manuale di Analisi Quantitativa dei Medicinali
EDISES, Napoli, 2019
ISBN: 978-88-3319-044-0

 

R.C. Baselt
Drug Effects On Psychomotor Performance
Biomedical Publications, Seal Beach, 2001
ISBN: 978-09-6265-234-9

Teaching methods

The course is elective, takes place during the second semester and includes 24 hours (3 ECTS Credits) of lessons.

1-2 seminars will take place, given by experts on the course topics, and these will be integral parts of the course itself.

 

Assessment methods

The examination includes an oral examination aiming to verify the knowledge acquired as stated by the learning outcomes. This examination shall be considered positive on the basis of correct answers to questions related to topics covered during the course.

Teaching tools

The lessons will be held by using common audio-visual means.

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Mandrioli