Pharmacotherapy follow‐up of key points in the safety of oral antineoplastic agents

We assessed the impact of a pharmacotherapy follow‐up programme on key safety points [adverse events (AE) and drug administration] in outpatients treated with oral antineoplastic agents (OAA). We performed a comparative, interventional, quasi‐experimental study of outpatients treated with OAA in a Spanish hospital to compare pre‐intervention group patients (not monitored by pharmacists during 2011) with intervention group patients (prospectively monitored by pharmacists during 2013). AE data were collected from medical records. Follow‐up was 6 months, and 249 patients were included (pre‐intervention, 115; intervention, 134). After the first month, AE were detected in 86.5% of patients in the pre‐intervention group and 80.6% of patients in the intervention group, P = 0.096. During the remaining months, 79.0% patients had at least one AE in the pre‐intervention group compared with 78.0% in the intervention group, P = 0.431. AE were more prevalent with sorafenib and sunitinib. In total, 173 drug interactions were recorded (pre‐intervention, 80; intervention, 93; P = 0.045). Drug interactions were more frequent with erlotinib and gefitinib; food interactions were more common with sorafenib and pazopanib. Our follow‐up of cancer outpatients revealed a reduction in severe AE and major drug interactions, thus helping health professionals to monitor the safety of OAA.