Students who successfully complete this course will have gained:

  • A broader understanding of principles that govern the fate of drugs in the body (pharmacokinetics) and exert their effects (pharmacodynamics)
  • The ability to apply and integrate this information to understand clinical use and clinical limitations of drugs

More specifically students will be able to:

  • Understand what is considered a drug and how drugs may be found in nature or created by man
  • Understand how the physiochemical structure of a compound can alter how it is absorbed, distributed and cleared by the body
  • Appreciate how the route of administration is designed to take into account both the drug’s physiochemical properties and the body’s physiology to ensure that therapeutic concentrations reach targeted sites of action
  • Describe how physiological processes (protein binding, ionization) can change a drug’s kinetic profile in the body (i.e. absorption and distribution)
  • Recognize how properties of a compound can alter its bioavailability (plasma concentration) and how this relates to a drug’s measure of clinical effectiveness
  • Understand and explain how drugs are biotransformed and eliminated by the body, focusing on both renal and hepatic clearance.
  • Understand and explain the different enzymatic processes that are involved in drug metabolism, especially in the liver, and how drug metabolism may alter route of administration, dosing and clinical effectiveness
  • Apply pharmacokinetic principles (absorption, distribution, clearance) to better understand drug dosing
  • Describe different classes of drugs in relationship to their mechanism of action
  • Understand how drug effectiveness and potency are measured, clinically and in the laboratory setting
  • Recognize the diversity of drug targets found within the body
  • Through example drugs, recognize and understand how specific drug-target interactions can alter physiology
  • Through examples appreciate the use of drugs in the clinical setting
  • Identify and understand how a drug can elicit an unwanted or adverse effects
  • Appreciate and understand how drug interactions, genetics and stage of life (i.e. pregnancy, aging) contribute to modulating clinical outcomes
  • Extend recognition of drug use in society, outside of the therapeutic context
  • Communicate a better understanding of how drugs work in the body