pharm study guide

Question 1

pharmacology

Answer 1

Pharmacology is the scientific study of the effects of drugs and chemicals on
living organisms where a drug can be broadly defined as any chemical substance, natural or
synthetic, which affects a biological system. Pharmacology may involve how organisms handle
drugs, identification and validation of new targets for drug action, and the design and
development of new drugs to prevent, treat and cure disease

Question 2

Pharmacogenomics:

Answer 2

is a field of research that studies how a person’s genes affect how he or
she responds to medications.

Question 3

Pharmacogenetics:

Answer 3

is the study of how differences in a gene affect each person’s response to a
certain medication. It can help predict how a person will process a medication and provides
caution about potential side effects.

Question 4

Toxicology:

Answer 4

Toxicology is a field of science that helps us understand the harmful effects that
chemicals, substances, or situations, can have on people, animals, and the environment. Some
refer to toxicology as the “Science of Safety” because as a field it has evolved from a science
focused on studying poisons and adverse effects of chemical exposures, to a science devoted to
studying safety.

Question 5

Adverse reactions (ADR):

Answer 5

is defined as any response to a drug that is noxious, unintended and
occurs at doses normally used for the prophylaxis, diagnosis or therapy of a disease

Question 6

Adverse effects:

Answer 6

are the clinical manifestations of an adverse reaction. Typically they are
referred to in commercials as side effects, although a side effect can be beneficial

Question 7

Allergic reaction:

Answer 7

occurs in only a small
population.
Characterized by a rapid
development following
re-exposure to the
allergen.

Question 8

Drug interactions:

Answer 8

when the effects of one drug is altered by taking a different drug, a health
product or with food. The interaction can be positive (duplication of the effect) or negative
(antagonism) but can also alter the drug’s action.

Question 9

*Tolerance:

Answer 9

The development of resistance to the effects of the drug such that the drug’s dose
must be continually raised to elicit the desired response, or a new class of drugs must be used to
produce the desired effect.

Question 10

• Cumulative effect:

Answer 10

when the body is not able to metabolize and excrete one dose of the drug before the next dose is administered. This can result in cumulative toxicity.

Question 11

• Antagonism:

Answer 11

when the effects of one drug negate or antagonizes the activity of another.

Question 12

• Synergism:

Answer 12

The combined action of two or more drugs produces an effect which is greater from
using each one of them separately.

Question 13

• Potentiation:

Answer 13

when one drug does not elicit a response on its own but enhances the response to
another drug.

Question 14

• Additivity:

Answer 14

the effect of taking two or more drugs is equal to the sum of the effect for taking
each one individually.
Important for assignment 2 and throughout the course!

Question 15

*Pharmacokinetics:

Answer 15

Pharmacokinetics, sometimes described as what the body does to a drug,
refers to the movement of drug into, through, and out of the body—the time course of its
absorption, bioavailability, distribution, metabolism, and excretion.
https://www.merckmanuals.com/en-ca/professional/clinical-pharmacology/pharmacokinetics/overview-of-pharmacokinetics

Question 16

The main questions that pharmacokinetics
addresses is …

Answer 16

how long does a drug stay in the
system? How much of it reaches its target?
What other organs/systems does it reach?

Question 17

Pharmacodynamics:

Answer 17

(sometimes described as what a drug does to the body) is the study of the
biochemical, physiologic, and molecular effects of drugs on the body and involves receptor
binding (including receptor sensitivity), post-receptor effects, and chemical interactions.

Question 18

The main questions that pharmacodynamics addresses is …

Answer 18

where does the drug bind? What is the
effect on cell processes? What is the effect on the organ/the system?

Question 19

Biologic drugs come from …

Answer 19

living organisms or from their cells. They are often made using biotechnology. Examples of biologic drugs include insulin, growth hormones and antibodies. Biologic drugs are used to treat diseases and medical conditions including: anemia.

Question 20

A drug is defined as…

Answer 20

any substance or product that is used or intended to be used to modify or
improve a physiological or a pathological condition.

Question 21

drugs vs medicine

Answer 21

• Drugs do not create effect in the body but they do modify physical processes by mimicking or
  blocking the effects of substances found within the body.
• Medication or medicine refers to the formulation of the drug with other ingredients that
  improve its stability, taste and physical form to allow appropriate administration of the active
  drug.
  https://www.napra.ca/national-drug-schedules/national-drug-schedules-program/what-are-the-national-drug-schedules-nds/

Question 22

Excipients

Answer 22

• Typically, a medicine is composed of one or more active chemicals as well as excipients.
• The desire function of an excipient is to guarantee the required biopharmaceutical and
  physicochemical properties of the pharmaceutical product.
• Can also have a role in drug manufacturing:
• Lubricants can be used to facilitate the passage of the drug through the digestive tube but can also be
  used to prevent sticking of capsules to each other or to the filling machine.
  https://pharmaeducation.net/excipients-for-tablets/

Question 23

Oral Excipients

Answer 23

• Diluents (also called fillers): essential excipients for tablets to increase the weight or volume.
• Binders: vital excipients for tablets to facilitate the agglomeration of powder into granules.
• Disintegrants: essential excipients for tablets to assist dosage form’s breakup or disintegration
  into small units/fragments.
• Lubricants: vital excipients for tablets to reduce the frictional forces between particle-particle
  as well as particles and metal-contact surfaces.
• Coloring agent
• Flavoring agent
  https://pharmaeducation.net/excipients-for-tablets/

Question 24

more Oral Excipients

Answer 24

Sweetener or Sweetening agent: especially used in the chewable, dispersible, sublingual tablet.
* Surfactant: used for low solubility tablets to improve wetting and de-aggregation of drug
particles to get a rapid and improved dissolution.
* Release-Modifying Agents: especially used to control drug release in modified-release
formulations (prolonged-release or controlled-release tablet).
* Coating materials:
* Film former which may be enteric or non-enteric, etc.

Question 25

I. Immediate reaction and
Accelerated reaction (30min to
72 hours).
Idiosyncratic

Answer 25

type allergic reaction