Cancer informatics for the clinician: An interaction database for chemotherapy regimens and antiepileptic drugs

BACKGROUND Cancer patients are at high risks of manifesting drug-drug interactions (DDIs) which can potentiate serious negative outcomes. It is important for clinicians to make accurate, timely, safe and effective decisions with regards to drug use in the patient. OBJECTIVE To provide clinicians with an oncology-specific drug interaction database that is relevant to their daily practice. This database focuses on DDIs with anticancer drugs (ACDs), single- and multiple-agent chemotherapy regimens. METHODS Drug-related and interaction-related information between anticancer and antiepileptic drugs were compiled from drug information handbooks and databases, package inserts, and published literature from PubMed. Web documents were served from a modified web server with a database engine and programming interface constructed using Adobe software and various programming scripts. RESULTS OncoRx is an oncology-specific database whose structure is designed around chemotherapy regimens and generic drug names used in anticancer treatment. OncoRx currently comprises of 117 ACDs and 256 single-agent and combination chemotherapy regimens. It covers all the major classes of ACDs and their frequently prescribed chemotherapy regimens, and can detect up to over 2000 interactions with 24 antiepileptic drugs. Data provided to clinicians include pharmacokinetic parameters of the drugs, information regarding the chemotherapy regimens and the detected DDIs. CONCLUSION OncoRx is able to identify DDIs between ACDs and adjuvant drug therapy. This is the first database of its kind to be able to detect interactions for combination chemotherapy regimens. This tool will assist clinicians in improving clinical response and reducing adverse effects based on the therapeutic and toxicity profiles of the drugs.