Abstract
Medicine is intimately associated with a thorough understanding of clinical pharmacology. Many drugs have been discovered by observing natural materials—for example, plants—and their effects on animals. The physical effect of a drug, either positive or negative, can be observed without the knowledge of its mechanism of action. Modern drug discovery takes a different approach. Starting with a hypothesis that a certain protein is implicated in a disease, small molecules are screened for targeting the protein for the therapeutic effect; these are ultimately tested for a desired effect in basic science and clinical trials. The study of the interaction of the drug with the physiology of the body is the basis of clinical pharmacology.
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Hu, Y., Maheshwari, K. (2018). Pharmacology: General Concepts. In: Farag, E., Argalious, M., Tetzlaff, J.E., Sharma, D. (eds) Basic Sciences in Anesthesia. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62067-1_5
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