Università Roma Tre

Pharmacology, Pharmacotherapy: history, purposes, definitions. Definitions of drug, officinal and magistral galenic preparations, dietary supplements and functional foods; innovative drugs, “me too” drugs, orphan drugs, generic drugs; over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, medical devices; biological drugs; biosimilar drugs. General principles of pharmacokinetics. Absorption: factors influencing the rate and extent of drug absorption. Routes of drug administration. Drug distribution. Drug binding to plasma proteins. Factors influencing drug distribution. Drug metabolism: general principles and consequences of drug biotransformation. Phase I and Phase II enzymatic reactions. Factors affecting drug metabolism. Induction and inhibition of drug metabolism. Drug elimination. Evaluation of pharmacokinetic parameters (plasma clearance, half-life, repeated dosing, bioavailability, and bioequivalence). General principles of pharmacodynamics. Targets of drug action: membrane and intracellular receptors and associated signal transduction systems; ion channels; enzymes; transporters and pumps; nucleic acids; cytoskeletal proteins. Characteristics of drug-receptor interaction, binding studies, dissociation constant, and concept of affinity. Dose-response curves, agonism, antagonism, partial agonism, inverse agonism, affinity, efficacy, potency. Therapeutic index. Variability in drug response: down- and up-regulation, desensitization, tolerance, dependence, tachyphylaxis. Adverse drug reactions. Allergies. Idiosyncrasies. Variability in drug response: factors related to the drug and pharmaceutical formulation; drug-drug interactions; drug-food interactions. Variability in drug response: factors related to the individual (species, ethnicity, age, sex, functional status of organs, dietary or recreational habits). Environmental factors. Drug development: chemical and pharmacological studies. Preclinical and clinical pharmacology studies. Drug control and testing. Methodologies and strategies in clinical pharmacology. Regulation of clinical trials.

Clark, Finkel, Rey, Whalen. “Pharmacology", Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews, 5th Edition
Brunton et al. – Goodman & Gilman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics.

Power-point files of the lectures will be provided

To get an appointment with the Professor, email to: viviana.trezza@uniroma3.it