Plain-language explanation.
Pharmacology is the science of drugs — how they interact with biological systems, how the body processes them, and what effects they produce. It underpins medicine, drug development, toxicology, and every prescription a doctor writes.
Core concepts and standard treatment.
Core pharmacology divides into pharmacodynamics (PD — what the drug does to the body: receptor theory — agonist/antagonist/partial agonist; dose-response curves — EC50, Emax, Hill coefficient; receptor types — GPCRs, ion channels, nuclear receptors, kinase-linked receptors; drug-target interactions — affinity, selectivity, potency vs efficacy) and pharmacokinetics (PK — what the body does to the drug: ADME — absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion; bioavailability, volume of distribution, clearance, half-life, AUC; first-pass effect; CYP450 enzymes — inducers and inhibitors).
Deeper theory, debates and edge cases.
Advanced pharmacology covers drug discovery and development (target identification, hit-to-lead, lead optimisation — SAR; preclinical — in vitro, in vivo; IND application; Phase I-III trials — CONSORT; regulatory submissions — NDA, MAA; post-marketing surveillance), pharmacogenomics (variability in drug response due to genetic polymorphisms — CYP2C19 and clopidogrel; HLA-B*5701 and abacavir hypersensitivity; warfarin dosing — VKORC1, CYP2C9), toxicology (acute vs chronic toxicity; NOAEL; risk assessment — ECHA/EPA frameworks; mutagenicity — Ames test; genotoxicity — ICH S2; hepatotoxicity — DILI — RUCAM score), and pharmacology of major drug classes (cardiovascular — statins, ACE inhibitors; CNS — antidepressants, antipsychotics, anaesthetics; infectious disease — antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals).
How it is applied in practice.
At the clinical pharmacologist and drug development scientist level, practitioners contribute to British Journal of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics; lead PK/PD modelling programmes (PopPK — NONMEM, Monolix; physiologically based pharmacokinetic modelling — Simcyp, GastroPlus); design adaptive Phase I/II clinical trials; advise MHRA/EMA on drug-drug interactions and special population dosing; run therapeutic drug monitoring services (vancomycin AUC-guided dosing; tacrolimus in transplant); and contribute to WHO Essential Medicines List evaluations.