General Pharmacology

Students should be able to: 1. demonstrate an understanding of basic pharmacological principles and mechanism of action and classification of drugs; 2. describe fundamental concepts of drug-receptor interactions; 3. display an understanding of the processes involved in absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of toxicants, including an understanding of the toxicokinetic behavior of toxicants in mammals; 4. identify molecular targets and pathways that are druggable and those for which there are already drugs available; 5. justify the main pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic principles and apply them to particular drugs; 6. integrate the principles of pharmacology in the process of drug evaluation (efficacy, safety, and quality); and 7. apply the principles of drug evaluation to specific situations: generics and biosimilar.

General Pharmacology: Historical development of pharmacology; divisions of pharmacology and their applications; definitions of terms and abbreviations: concept and nature of drugs. Pharmacodynamics; pharmacokinetics; classification of drugs and their importance. Drug abuse and control; drug noncompliance or misuse. Toxicology: Introduction to toxicology and its importance; general principles of poison managements.