Dried Blood Spots in Bioanalysis of Antimalarials: Relevance and Challenges in Quantitative Assessment of Antimalarial Drugs

Abstract

Malaria is the leading parasitic disease in the emerging countries. Therapeutic drug monitoring of antimalarial drugs is becoming increasingly important due to their spreading resistance. Measuring systemic antimalarial drug concentrations is also vital for safety and pharmacokinetic evaluations during clinical development. Dried blood spot (DBS) technique is a convenient alternative sample collection method to venipuncture, especially in resource limited areas where the clinical studies of antimalarials are usually carried out. Various bioanalytical methods for antimalarial drug estimation utilising DBS sampling have been reported till date. This review discusses the applicability and relevance of DBS in quantitative assessment of antimalarial drugs, the advantages and drawbacks of DBS and the difficulties encountered during its implementation.