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Pharmacological Characteristics

Pharmacology is the field of research focusing on the design and characterization of drugs to treat disease. Molecules are evaluated as drug candidates based on their pharmacological properties or characteristics--the properties that make them useful as a drug. The human body is a complex system; in order to effectively treat a disorder, a drug must combine a number of important features.

  1. Pharmacodynamics

    • Pharmacodynamics is the study of what a drug does to the body, including how it achieves its intended effect, its undesirable effects and the relationship between the dose and the response to the drug. Drugs can interact with other proteins, processes or compounds in the body besides their intended target; these "off-target" interactions are responsible for side effects or toxicity. Both the toxicity of a drug and the response it induces may vary with the dose of the drug.

    Pharmacokinetics

    • Pharmacokinetics is the study of what the body does to a drug. Four properties are especially important: absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination. The acronym for these four properties is ADME. If a drug is administered orally, it must be a compound that can be absorbed through the intestinal lining and become distributed throughout the bloodstream. The fraction of the drug that reaches general circulation is called the bioavailability. Once the drug is in the bloodstream, however, the body (primarily the liver) will begin to break it down or metabolize it; over time the compound will be eliminated or excreted. It's important for chemists to know how quickly these processes will occur and what the effects will be.

    Mechanism of action

    • The mechanism of action is the means by which the drug acts to treat the condition or disorder. The drug must interact with a given target to alter biochemical processes in such a way that it improves the patient's condition. The nature of the target and mechanism of action depend on the type of disease. Aspirin, for example, chemically alters an important enzyme that plays a key role in inflammation, while many antibiotics stop bacteria from synthesizing compounds they need for their cell walls.

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