Drawbacks 5-HTP's short half-life (<2h) may inherently limit its therapeutic potential, as the systemic 5-HTP exposure levels will fluctuate substantially even with relatively frequent dosing. Such exposure fluctuations are usually associated with increased adverse event burden, resulting from Cmax  drug spikes, and decreased clinical efficacy resulting from sub-therapeutic exposure for large parts of the day  . It has been proposed that 5-HTP dosage forms achieving prolonged delivery would be more effective, as is general with short-acting active pharmaceutical ingredients. Unexpectedly,  5-HTP was found to be essential for the growth of human parainfluenza virus in cell culture.
Drawbacks 5-HTP's short half-life (<2h) may inherently limit its therapeutic potential, as the systemic 5-HTP exposure levels will fluctuate substantially even with relatively frequent dosing. Such exposure fluctuations are usually associated with increased adverse event burden, resulting from Cmax (time to maximal systemic concentration) drug spikes, and decreased clinical efficacy resulting from sub-therapeutic exposure for large parts of the day , when taken as a single dose unit or at intervals significantly larger than the Cmax . It has been proposed that 5-HTP dosage forms achieving prolonged delivery would be more effective, as has been demonstrated many times with other short duration of action pharmaceuticals. For example, controlled release oxycodone (OxyContin) or morphine (MS-Contin) are intended to, via novel delivery mechanisms, pemit pain relief for up to 12 hours with an active ingredient which only provides relief for 3-6 hours. Unfortunately, the inherent variability amongst different people with respect to drug metabolism, makes this task more difficult than one would expect. An unexpected discovery was that 5-HTP is essential for the growth of human parainfluenza virus in cell culture.
A
(time to maximal systemic concentration)
A
, when taken as a single dose unit or at intervals significantly larger than the Cmax
R
is general with short-acting active pharmaceutical ingredients. Unexpectedly,
has been demonstrated many times with other short duration of action pharmaceuticals. For example, controlled release oxycodone (OxyContin) or morphine (MS-Contin) are intended to, via novel delivery mechanisms, pemit pain relief for up to 12 hours with an active ingredient which only provides relief for 3-6 hours. Unfortunately, the inherent variability amongst different people with respect to drug metabolism, makes this task more difficult than one would expect.
A
An unexpected discovery was that
R
was found to be
is