INTRODUCTION TO PHARMACOLOGY

ISHAQ ARSHAD
PHARMACOLOGY
“Pharmacology can be defined as the science of substances
used to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease”
OR
Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology, and pharmaceutical
sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be
defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous molecule which exerts a
biochemical or physiological effect on the organism.
It
deals with the interaction of chemicals with living systems at
molecular level.
DRUG AND PRODUG
1-DRUG
WHO definition
“Drug is any substance or product that is intended to be used to modify or
explore physiological systems or pathological states for the benefit of the
recipient.

2-PRO-DRUG
It contains parent drug compounds in inactive form.
Pro-drugs have minimum biological activity, longer half life and low toxic

activity.
They undergo biotransformation to bring about desired results.
Levadopa
PLACEBO AND ORPHAN DRUG
3-PLACEBO
A substance that has no pharmacological activity but works by psychological
means.

4-ORPHANE DRUG
An orphan drug is a chemical substance that is synthesized to treat a rare

disease i.e that affects a small percentage of the population.

This referred to as such because prior development efforts may have been

abandoned or "orphaned" due to a lack of funding or interest in drug

development.
 Imbruvica is a drug used to treat certain types of cancers.
BRANCHES OF PHARMACOLOGY
1-Pharmacokinetics 6-Clinical pharmacology

2-Pharmacodynamics 7-Pharmacy

8-Pharmacognosy
3-Pharmacotherapeutics
9-Toxicology
4-Chemotherapy
10-Posology
5-Parmacogenomics
BRANCHES OF PHARMACOLOGY
1-PHARMACOKINETICS
It is the branch of pharmacology which deals with absorption,
distribution, metabolism and excretion of drugs

2-PHARMACODYNAMICS
It is the branch of pharmacology which describes the biological and
physiological actions of drugs and their mechanism of action
BRANCHES OF PHARMACOLOGY
3-PHARMACOTHERAPEUTICS
This branch deals with the use of drugs in prevention and
treatment of disease

4-CHEMOTHERAPY
It deals with the effect of drug on micro-organisms or parasites
with minimal/no effects on host cells
BRANCHES OF PHARMACOLOGY
5-PARMACOGENOMICS
It is the use of genetic information to guide the choice of drug and
dose
on an individual basis.

6-CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY
It is the scientific study of drugs in man . It includes
pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetic investigations of drugs in
man and their therapeutic evaluations
BRANCHES OF PHARMACOLOGY
7-PHARMACY
It is the science of compounding and dispensing drugs or preparing
suitable dosage forms for administration of drugs to man or
animals.
The large scale manufacture of drugs is called Pharmaceutics

8-PHARMACOGNOSY(Material medicine)
It is the branch of pharmacology that deals with source,
identification, physical and chemical characteristics of drugs
obtained from plants.
BRANCHES OF PHARMACOLOGY
9-TOXICOLOGY
It is the branch of pharmacology that deals with the undesirable
effects of chemicals on living systems, from individual cells to
humans.
It deals not only with drugs but other chemicals responsible for
household, environmental or industrial poisonings.

10-POSOLOGY
It is the branch of pharmacology which deals with doses of drugs
NOMENCLATURE OF DRUGS
1-CHEMICAL NAME
This name is according to molecular structure of the drug. It is not
suitable for prescribing .e.g Alpha-amino benzyl penicillin
2-GENERIC NAME
It is also known as ‘official name’. It is used in textbooks,
pharmacopias, medical journel. e.g Ampicillin
3-TRADE NAME
It is known as brand name given by Pharmaceutical Company.
e.g Risek capsules
A generic name is the nonconfidential substitute for a specific chemical name that is
treated as confidential.
ANY QUESTION ?