Medicines and prescriptions
What Is Monotherapy? Single-Medicine Treatment Explained
Monotherapy · say it: MON-oh-THAIR-uh-peeAlso written: single-agent therapy, single-drug treatment
Short answer
Monotherapy means treating a condition with one medicine on its own, rather than a combination of medicines.
What it means
Monotherapy means using a single medicine to treat a condition. Many conditions, such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes or epilepsy, are often started with one medicine. If that is not enough, a second medicine may be added, which is called combination or adjunctive therapy.
Labels say a medicine is approved 'as monotherapy' or 'as adjunctive therapy', or both. This tells you how the medicine was tested and how it is meant to be used. If a label says it is only approved as add-on therapy, it was not studied for use on its own. The word also appears in clinical study descriptions.
Monotherapy is the opposite of combination therapy. It does not mean a weaker treatment; for many people one medicine is enough.
Where you may see it
- The 'Indications' section of medicine labels
- Clinical study descriptions in prescribing information
- Clinic letters describing treatment plans
📄 How it looks on a report
Indicated as monotherapy or as adjunctive therapy in the treatment of partial-onset seizures.
🙅 What it does not mean
- It does not mean you cannot take other medicines for other conditions.
- Starting with monotherapy does not mean treatment has failed if a second medicine is added later.
- It does not mean the medicine is weaker than a combination.
🎯 Check yourself
Which of these is the right meaning of “Monotherapy”?
🗒️ Questions to ask your doctor
🧾 Reports where you will see “Monotherapy”
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💊 Medicines whose labels mention “Monotherapy”
Plain-English explanations of each medicine, from its official FDA label.
- Divalproex Sodium
An anti-epileptic (anti-seizure) drug of the valproate type. The label also uses it to treat manic episodes of bipolar disorder and to prevent migraine headaches.
- Lamotrigine
An anti-epileptic (seizure) medicine and mood stabilizer. The label describes it as an anti-epileptic drug of the phenyltriazine class that is chemically unrelated to other anti-epileptic drugs.
- Lithium Carbonate
A mood-stabilizing agent, which the label describes as a medicine used to treat bipolar I disorder
🔗 Read more from trusted sources
- “Monotherapy” on MedlinePlus ↗
US National Library of Medicine
- NCI Dictionary definition ↗
US National Cancer Institute: “monotherapy”
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General information about a medical word, not advice about your own results. Ask the clinician who ordered the test what it means for you.