Pharm Unit 1 Drug table

Question 1

Prednisone

Answer 1

Class: Glucocorticoid
Mechanism:
1) Inhibits phospholipase A–>inhibits arachidonic acid release–>inhibits formation of prostaglandins
2) Inhibits cytokine formation–>prevents induction of COX-2
Therapeutics: Rheumatoid Arthritis
Side Effects: hyperglycemia, osteoporosis, poor wound healing

Question 2

Chloroquine/hydrochloroquine

Answer 2

Class: Antimalarial Medication
Mechanism: Inhibits chemotaxis
Therapeutics: Rheumatoid Arthritis
Side Effects: Chloroquine causes irreversible retinal damage during long term treatment

Question 3

Sulfasalazine

Answer 3

Class:Sulfa drug
Mechanism: inhibits IL-1 and TNFalpha release
Therapeutics: Rheumatoid Arthritis
Side Effects: nausea, vomiting, headaches, skin rashes, and neutropenia (side effects cause 30% of pts to discontinue drug)
Notes: acts more quickly than anti-malarials

Question 4

Methotrexate

Answer 4

Class: Folate Analog
Mechanism:
1) inhibits a reaction catalyzed by dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), that is essential for the synthesis of DNA (anticancer)
2) inhibits aminoimiadazolecarboxamide(AICAR) transformylase and thymidylate synthetase (which builds up AMP–> AMP converted to adenosine, which inhibits inflammation), with secondary side effects on polymorphonuclear chemotaxis
Therapeutics:Rheumatoid Arthritis, Cancer
Side effects: nausea, stomatitis, hepatotoxicity