Blood level testing can be initiated at any time. However, you may want to consider blood level testing:

• To establish a baseline once the plasma concentration of a patient's medication has reached steady state
• Whenever a patient approaches a treatment milestone
• When a patient is not responding to therapy as well as you believe he or she should be
• When a patient is experiencing side effects that are unusually severe for the dose of medication he or she is taking
• When you suspect that a patient may be experiencing a drug-drug interaction
• When you suspect that a patient may be nonadherent to therapy

Blood level testing is offered through GIST ALLIANCE™, at no cost to health care professionals. Testing is performed by a Clinical Laboratories Improvement Act (CLIA)-certified clinical laboratory with significant expertise in therapeutic drug monitoring.