Clinical Trials

Abstract

Pharmacology is the science of drugs and it deals with interaction of chemical molecules or any single chemical substance exogenously administered to living systems which can produce a biological response. In a broader sense, the field of pharmacology is classified into two types such as (i) non-clinical and (ii) clinical pharmacology. The non-clinical pharmacology mostly dealt with animal models where as the clinical pharmacology study involves systematic evaluation of drugs in human. Clinical pharmacology is a multidisciplinary science that includes professionals of different field such as medicine, pharmacology, pharmacy, biomedical science and nursing that evaluate the different aspects of interaction between drugs on human. This further includes discovery of new drugs, application of drugs as therapeutic agents, beneficial and harmful effects of drugs on individuals and society, and the deliberate misuse of drugs. Clinical pharmacology is considered as rather a young discipline since it is originated around middle of the twentieth century and its objective is to optimise drug therapy. It is difficult to find who first coined the term ‘Clinical Pharmacology’ as opinions differ between countries. However, Louis Losgagna, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University in America is commonly known as father of Clinical pharmacology.