Why does the same tablet work fast for some patients but slow for others?

Pharmacy
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  • You may have seen this in real life: two patients take the same tablet, at the same dose, yet one feels relief quickly while the other feels very little effect. This is not a mistake in the medicine; it is how the human body handles drugs differently.

  • When a tablet is swallowed, the drug does not directly enter the bloodstream. It first travels to the liver, where it may be broken down by enzymes. This process, called first-pass metabolism, can reduce the amount of active drug that finally reaches circulation.

  • Some medicines lose a large portion of their strength at this stage. Because of this, their effect may feel delayed or weaker, especially in patients whose liver enzymes are more active.

  • Every patient’s liver works differently. Age, genetics, liver health, smoking, and other medicines can change how fast a drug is metabolized. That is why one dose does not suit everyone equally.

  • To overcome this, the same drug may be given as a sublingual tablet, injection, or patch so that it can act faster and more reliably.

  • Understanding this helps us avoid wrongly labeling a medicine as “ineffective.”

  • If the body plays such a big role in drug response, should treatment decisions focus more on patient factors than just the dose?

MBH/PS

2 Likes
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Insightful post which details the different effects of drugs in different individuals. Genes may also affect some individuals’ interaction with drugs, as some are sensitive while others are resistant to them.

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Personalized medicine is the future compared to one- size-fits-all, it helps in predicting the right drug with right dose for every individual depending upon their genetic profile.

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Understanding about dose frequency can be very helpful for the doctors to treat their patients.

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5

Well explained! This highlights why pharmacokinetics & patient demographics are just as important as the drug and dose itself.

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Drug response is determined by patient-specific factors (genetics,age,etc) and dose-dependent pharmacokinetics, influencing efficacy and safety.

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Technically authentic writeup making the reader focused about patient body variations while concluding the effectiveness of medicine for any body ailment

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Yes, factors such as genomics, age, and body composition are now integrated into personalized medicine to optimize therapeutic efficacy and patient safety.

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Absolutely drug response is as much about the patient as the pill.Individual factors like genetics, liver function, age, and drug interactions should guide therapy, not dose alone this is the essence of personalized medicine.

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Each individual on the earth is different with different ADME process, eating habits and routines.The tablet bioavailability may differ in patients on the basis of drug interactions with food, supplements or other medications as well .

The timings may differ and gap between the food and the tablet intake can be one of the reasons too.

But then what is the solution?

AI ! If all the information is given to it,for a week, that at what time of the day you have your food , other medication etc. It can develop personalised medicines for the patients in the future.

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Every person is different, and so is the way their body responds to a tablet. With the growth of AI and technology, personalized medicine is clearly the future and can make treatments more effective.

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