MT Training > Pharmacology

Pharmacology is the field of medicine that studies drugs-their nature, origin, and effect on the body. It is a broad medical specialty and contains many subdivisions of study, including medical chemistry, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, molecular pharmacology, chemotherapy, and toxicology.

Drugs are chemical or biological substances used in the prevention or treatment of disease, or to alter bodily functions in a beneficial way.

Drugs are dispensed by a pharmacist, whose shop or store is called a pharmacy.

Medicinal chemistry is the study of new drug synthesis and the relationship between chemical structure and biological effects in the body. Scientists may also study the processes of drug absorption (how drugs pass into the bloodstream), metabolism (change drugs undergo within the body), and excretion (removal of the drug from the body.) the mathematical description of drug disposition (appearance and disappearance) in the body over time of called pharmacokinetics.

Molecular pharmacology concerns the study of the interaction of drugs and subcellular entities, such as DNA, RNA, and enzymes. These studies provide important information about the mechanism of action of the drug.

Chemotherapy is the study of drugs that destroy microorganisms, parasites, of malignant cells within the body. Chemotherapy includes treatment of infectious diseases and cancer.

Toxicology is the study of harmful chemicals and their effects on the body. Toxicological studies in animals are required by law before new drugs can be tested in humans. A toxicologist is also interested in finding proper antidotes to any harmful effects of drugs. Antidotes are substances given to neutralize unwanted effects of drugs.

1. Drug Names, Standards, And References

A Drug can have three different names.

¨      The chemical name is the chemical formula for the drug. This name, often long and complicated, is useful for the chemist because it shows the structure of the drug.

¨      The generic or official name is a shorter, less complicated name that is recognized as identifying the drug for legal and scientific purposes. The generic name becomes public property after 17 years of use by the original manufacture, and any drug manufacturer may use it thereafter. There is only one generic name for each drug.

¨      The brand (trade of proprietary) name is the private of the individual manufacturer, and no competitor may use it. Brand names often have the superscript after or before the name, indicating that this is a registered trade name. Most drugs have several brand names because each manufacturer producing the drug gives it a different name. When a specific brand name is ordered a prescription by a physician, it must be dispensed by the pharmacist; no other name may be substituted. It is usual practice to capitalize the first letter of a brand name.

The following list gives the chemical, generic and brand names of the antibiotic drug ampicillin, note that the drug can have several brand names but only generic, or official, name:

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