Monotherapy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Monotherapy refers to a therapy which is taken by itself. It can be applied to any therapeutic approach, but it is most commonly used to describe the use of a single medication. Normally, monotherapy is selected because a single medication is adequate to treat the medical condition. However, monotherapies may also be used because of unwanted side effects or dangerous drug interactions.[1]

Monotherapy is rarely used in treating some conditions, such as HIV infection and many kinds of cancer.

The opposite of monotherapy is polytherapy or polypharmacy.

[edit] See also

  • Polypill, a medication which contains a combination of active ingredients

[edit] References

  1. ^ Glossary (HTML) (English). Retrieved on 2008-04-02. “Monotherapy: The treatment of epilepsy with a single medication rather than a combination. Monotherapy has distinct advantages over polytherapy in many patients, including absence of drug-drug interactions, fewer side effects, simpler dosing, and lower cost. However, not all patients can be controlled with monotherapy.”