Reem Diri

Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia;

For correspondence:-     Email: rdiri@kau.edu.sa

Received: 24 March 2026        Accepted: 19 September 2026        Published: 30 September 2026

Citation: Diri R. Pharmacist’s role in the management of patients on oral anticancer therapies: A systematic review. Trop J Pharm Res 2026; 25(9):1307-1321 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v25i9.14

© 2026 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To compile evidence on pharmacists’ roles in managing adult cancer patients receiving Oral anticancer therapies (OATs).

Methods: This systematic review followed PRISMA guidelines. A comprehensive search of PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar identified English-language studies published between 2005 and 2025. Eligible studies examined pharmacist involvement in adult cancer patients receiving OATs. Studies underwent screening, full-text review, quality assessment, data extraction, and thematic analysis.

Results: Of 557 records identified, 19 studies met inclusion criteria. Five key pharmacist roles emerged: medication reconciliation and review, patient education and counseling, adherence support, pharmacovigilance and safety monitoring, and therapy follow-up. Pharmacist involvement was associated with reduced medication errors, improved adherence, greater patient knowledge and satisfaction, stronger patient–pharmacist relationships, and potential cost savings.

Conclusion: Pharmacists play a vital role in optimizing OAT management, improving clinical, economic, and humanistic outcomes. Integration into multidisciplinary oncology teams is strongly supported

Keywords: Management, Medication adherence, Oncology pharmacist, Oral anticancer therapies, Patient education, Pharmacovigilance

Impact Factor
Thompson Reuters (ISI): 0.6 (2023)
H-5 index (Google Scholar): 49 (2023)