Uploaded August 2021 | Updated September 2026, 17 hours ago
Although drugs can save us, an overdose can harm us and an underdose can be ineffective.
For some drugs, just a small change in dose can be the difference between harmful toxicity and complete ineffectiveness.
Moreover, in large portions of the population drugs often fail to show a therapeutic effect. Over and undertreatment of chronic diseases compromises patients’ health and burdens public health systems.
This is because a response to medication is highly specific to the individual.
Various approaches to the individualization of drug dosage include the use of therapeutic monitoring of drug concentrations in the blood.
However, these methods can be slow and cumbersome. Even more importantly, there is often a lack of clinical correlation between the efficacy outcomes or side-effects with drug concentrations. In our progression from a one-size-fits-all approach to one more individualized, we still have a long way to go.
How can we solve this problem? By exhaled breath analysis.
Our breath contains valuable information that can be used to monitor drugs and their associated therapeutic or toxic effects. It provides a new layer of information that, so far, has been completely unexploited.
Let’s have a look at the composition of breath. The key information is present at extremely low concentrations.
Our state-of-the art mass spectrometric analytical platform is able to capture this information with the same sensitivity and selectivity as a sniffer dog.
Breath analysis is non-invasive and therefore patient-friendly. All you do is exhale into a disposable mouthpiece.
Machine learning algorithms are then used to process this wealth of information to provide reliable estimations of systemic drug concentrations along with risk estimates for drug response and side effects.
This is what the future looks like.
Our breath analysis technique brings personalized therapeutic management to the next level by maximizing clinical outcome and minimizing toxic effects.
Further details can be found in Singh et al. Personalised therapeutic management of epileptic patients guided by pathway-driven breath metabolomics. Commun Med 1, 21 (2021). doi.org/10.1038/s43856-021-00021-3
Although drugs can save us, an overdose can harm us and an underdose can be ineffective.
For some drugs, just a small change in dose can be the difference between harmful toxicity and complete ineffectiveness.
Moreover, in large portions of the population drugs often fail to show a therapeutic effect. Over and undertreatment of chronic diseases compromises patients’ health and burdens public health systems.
This is because a response to medication is highly specific to the individual.
Various approaches to the individualization of drug dosage include the use of therapeutic monitoring of drug concentrations in the blood.
However, these methods can be slow and cumbersome. Even more importantly, there is often a lack of clinical correlation between the efficacy outcomes or side-effects with drug concentrations. In our progression from a one-size-fits-all approach to one more individualized, we still have a long way to go.
How can we solve this problem? By exhaled breath analysis.
Our breath contains valuable information that can be used to monitor drugs and their associated therapeutic or toxic effects. It provides a new layer of information that, so far, has been completely unexploited.
Let’s have a look at the composition of breath. The key information is present at extremely low concentrations.
Our state-of-the art mass spectrometric analytical platform is able to capture this information with the same sensitivity and selectivity as a sniffer dog.
Breath analysis is non-invasive and therefore patient-friendly. All you do is exhale into a disposable mouthpiece.
Machine learning algorithms are then used to process this wealth of information to provide reliable estimations of systemic drug concentrations along with risk estimates for drug response and side effects.
This is what the future looks like.
Our breath analysis technique brings personalized therapeutic management to the next level by maximizing clinical outcome and minimizing toxic effects.
Further details can be found in Singh et al. Personalised therapeutic management of epileptic patients guided by pathway-driven breath metabolomics. Commun Med 1, 21 (2021). doi.org/10.1038/s43856-021-00021-3
