1 and 2 - Introduction to Pharmacology

Question 1

What is the difference between pharmacy and pharmacology?

Answer 1

Pharmacy - the science and profession concerned with preparation, storage, dispensing and proper utilization of drugs

Pharmacology - a biomedical science concerned with the interaction of chemical substances with living cells, tissues and organisms - particularly the mechanisms by which drugs counteract diseases

Question 2

What is the difference between toxicology and pharmacology

Answer 2

Toxicology is the science of poisons and toxicity - it focuses on the harmful effects of drugs and other chemicals and on the mechanisms by which toxic agents produce pathological changes, diseases and death - the “bad” of drugs

Recall that pharmacology rather looks at the mechanisms by which drugs counteract diseases - the “good” of drugs

Question 3

What is the difference between pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics?

Answer 3

Pharmacokinetics

• a division of pharmacology focused on processes that affect drug concentration in the body
• Including absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination
• Ultimately these kinetic parameters will affect the drug bioavailability or the fraction of drug that reaches the target site or tissue

Pharmacodynamics

• a division of pharmacology focused on how a drug produces an effect
• Areas of interest when studying pharmacodynamics would include drug targets or receptors, signal transduction pathways regulated by drugs, and the physiological and therapeutic effects caused by a particular agent

Question 4

What is the difference between prescription and non-prescription drugs?

Answer 4

Prescription medication: drugs whose sale is restricted and available only with a prescription from a licensed provider

Nonprescription or over-the-counter (OTC) medication: drugs that can be sold with directions for safe use by the public

Question 5

What is a scheduled drug?

Answer 5

• Drugs with additional restrictions that hold the potential for abuse.
• These drugs are classified based upon their abuse potential and require special registration with the Drug Enforcement Agency for dispensers and prescribers

Question 6

What are the classifications of scheduled drugs?

Answer 6

Schedule I
- high abuse potential, no medical use (e.g. heroin)

Schedule II
- high abuse potential, have a medical use, potential for psychological and physical dependence (e.g. morphine)

Schedule III
- less abuse potential than I or II, have a medical use, low potential for physical dependence, but high potential for psychological dependence (e.g. anabolic steroids)

Schedule IV
- less abuse potential than III, have a medical use, little potential of dependence (e.g. phenobarbital)

Schedule V
- less abuse potential than IV, have a medical use, limited dependence (e.g. buprenorphine)

Question 7

What are the three main steps to develop a new drug?

Answer 7

1 - Identification of a new compound
2 - In vitro experimentation and animal testing
3 - Clinical testing

Question 8

Describe the steps of identifying a new compound

Answer 8

a. identification of a new drug target
b. design a new drug based on previous information/data related to a specific biological mechanism, drug target structure, or drug structure
c. modification of a known natural or synthetic compound
d. mass screening of compounds
e. use of biotechnology to identify or synthesize targets, drugs or diagnostics
d. exploration of new drug combinations

Question 9

Describe the steps of in vitro experimentation and animal testing

Answer 9

a. drug characterization at the molecular, cellular, tissue, organ system and whole animal level
b. toxicity studies to determine: no-effect dose and minimum lethal doses, these doses are used to determine the starting point for dosing in humans

Question 10

How do we break up the steps of clinical testing?

Answer 10

By phases

• Phase I
• Phase II
• Phase III
• Phase IV

Question 11

Describe phase I of clinical testing

Answer 11

small number of patients that are used to test the limits of a safe dosing range typically in health volunteers

Question 12

Describe phase II of clinical testing

Answer 12

testing the drug with a relatively small number of patients to determine if the drug actually works or has the desired effect

Question 13

Describe phase III of clinical testing

Answer 13

similar to phase II but with larger number of patients, usually these are well controlled studies which aim to demonstrate statistical significance as compared to control (placebo) patients.

Question 14

Describe phase IV of clinical testing

Answer 14

continued monitoring during actual clinical use

Question 15

What are the three ways in which we name drugs?

Answer 15

• Chemical name
• Generic name
• Trade name

Question 16

What is a chemical name?

Answer 16

specifies the chemical structure of a drug using standard chemical nomenclature

Question 17

What is a generic name?

Answer 17

a nonproprietary name of a drug derived from the chemical name and provides some indication of the class to which a particular drug belongs.

Question 18

What is a trade name?

Answer 18

a registered brand

name or trademark belonging to a particular drug manufacturer or a proprietary name.

Question 19

What are different ways we can classify drugs?

Answer 19

• Drug action (ex. antivirals)
• Molecular target (ex. beta blockers)
• Drug source (ex. atropa plant)
• Chemical nature (ex. steroids)
• Generic name (provides some clues to the class of drug)