Dosing and scheduling
Titration
Last updated
Changing the amount of a compound in steps rather than going straight to the intended level, watching what happens at each step before moving to the next. Titration usually describes going up, but the same word covers stepping back down. The point is that the amount is arrived at gradually and adjusted by what is observed along the way.
Why it matters here
For compounds whose side effects are strongest early on, stepping the amount up is what makes them tolerable at all, and trials of those compounds build the steps into the study design. A result reported from a titrated study arm therefore belongs to the whole ramp, not to the final amount reached at the end of it.
What it is not
Titration is not a loading phase. Titration starts below the target amount and climbs towards it; a loading phase starts above the ongoing amount and comes down to it, so the heaviest exposure sits at opposite ends of the two.
Also called
- titration
- titrate
- titrating
- titrated
- titrate up
- uptitration
- up-titration
- teetering
- titration schedule
- ramp up
- ramping up
- tapering up
- dose escalation
- escalation
- stepping up
Ramping up and tapering up are the gym and forum phrasings for the same thing. Dose escalation is the trial term, used when a study is deliberately testing how far the amount can be pushed.
Compounds carrying this term
None on file yet. This term is in the controlled vocabulary but no compound record currently uses it — which is a statement about our coverage, not about the term.