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pharmacology (referen...Several diseases which were considered incurable and fatal can now be completely cured with just a few tablets.DEFINITIONS

Drug (Drogue means a dry herb in French) is a substance used in the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a disease.4

SECTION 1 General Pharmacology

of action of many drugs.

pharmacology (referen...

4

SECTION 1 General Pharmacology

of action of many drugs. Several diseases which were considered incurable and fatal can now be completely cured with just a few tablets.

DEFINITIONS

Drug (Drogue means a dry herb in French) is a substance used in the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a disease. WHO definition, "A Drug is any substance or product that is used or intended to be used to modify or explore physiological systems or pathological states for the benefit of the recipient."

Pharmacokinetics is the study of the absorption. distribution, metabolism and excretion of drugs, i.e. what the body does to the drug (in greek Kinesis =

Pharmacodynamics is the study of the effects of the drugs on the body and their mechanisms of action, i.e. what drug does to the body.

Therapeutics deals with the use of drugs in the prevention and treatment of disease.

Taxicology deals with the adverse effects of drugs and also the study of poisons, i.e detection, prevention and treatment of poisonings. (Toxicon = poison in Greek).

Chemotherapy is the use of chemicals for the treatment of infections. The term now also includes the use of chemical compounds to treat malignancies.

Pharmacy is the science of identification, com- pounding and dispensing of drugs. It also includes collection, isolation, purification, synthesis and standardization of medicinal substances.

SOURCES OF DRUGS

The sources of drugs could be natural or synthetic. Natural sources: Drugs can be obtained from: 1. Plants, e.g. atropine, morphine, quinine, digoxin, pilocarpine, physostigmine.

government of that country as 'legal standard: Thus, Indian Pharmacopeia, National formulary, British Pharmacopeia, British Pharmaceutical codex, United States Pharmacopeia and such other

Pharmacopoeias are official compendia. Pharmacopeia: Pharmacopoeia is the official

publication containing a list of drugs and medicinal preparations. In Greek 'Pharmacon' means drug and 'poria' is to make. It contains a list of drugs and related substances that are approved for use, their source, formulae and other information needed to prepare the drugs, their physical properties, tests for their identity, purity and potency. Each country may follow its own pharmacopeia. We thus have Indian Pharmacopeia, British Pharmacopeia.

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   Animals, eg. insulin, heparin, gonadotrophins and antitoxic sera.

   
   


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   Minerals, e.g. magnesium sulphate, aluminium hydroxide, iron, sulphur and radioactive isotopes.

   
   


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   Microorganisms: Antibacterial agents are obtained from some bacteria and fungi. We thus have penicillins, cephalosporins, tetracyclines and other antibiotics.

   
   


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   Human: Some drugs are obtained from man, e.g. immunoglobulins from blood, growth hormone from anterior pituitary and chorionic gonadotrophins from the urine of pregnant women.

   
   

Synthetic: Most drugs are now synthesized, eg. quinolones, omeprazole, sulfonamides, pancuro nium, neostigmine.

Many drugs are obtained by cell cultures, e.g urokinase from cultured human kidney cells. Some are now produced by recombinant DNA technology, e.g. human insulin, tissue plasminogen activator and some drugs by Hybridoma Technique, e.g. monoclonal antibodies.

DRUG INFORMATION SOURCES

Drug Compendia

Books that are sources of information on drugs, i.e. Pharmacopeias and formularies are together known as Drug Compendia. Drug compendia are of two types.

1. Official compendia

Pharmacopeia

Drug formulary

2. Non-official compendia Textbooks

Journals

Periodicals

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   Medline

   
   


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   Official Compendia

   
   

Official compendia include inform (or books) on which are rece sources the

Introduction, Sources of Drugs and Drug Information Sources