A Pharmacology Primer

A Pharmacology Primer: Techniques for More Effective and Strategic Drug Discovery, Fifth Edition features the latest ideas and research regarding the application of pharmacology to the process of drug discovery. Written by well-respected pharmacologist, Terry P. Kenakin, this primer is an indispensable resource for all those involved in drug discovery. This updated edition has been thoroughly revised to include material on quantifying drug efficacy through bias and cluster analysis, the impact of molecular dynamics and protein structural analysis, the real time kinetic analysis of drug effect, virtual screening for new drug chemical scaffolds, and much more.

With full color illustrations and new examples throughout, this book remains a top reference for all industry and academic scientists that is also ideal for students directly involved in drug discovery or pharmacologic research.

Key Features

    Highlights changes surrounding strategies for drug discovery, providing a comprehensive reference and featuring advances in the methods involved
    Includes multiple new sections, such as development and utilization of models in pharmacology, de-orphanization of new drug targets, predicting impact of disease on drug pharmacokinetics, and the impact of enzyme kinetics on drug-drug interactions
    Illustrates the application of rapid inexpensive assays to predict activity in the therapeutic setting, showing data outcomes and the limitations inherent in interpreting this data

Table of Contents

1. What Is Pharmacology?
2. How Different Tissues Process Drug Response
3. Drug-Receptor Theory
4. Pharmacological Assay Formats: Binding
5. Agonists: The Measurement of Affinity and Efficacy in Functional Assays
6. Orthosteric Drug Antagonism
7. Allosteric Modulation
8. The Optimal Design of Pharmacological Experiments
9. Pharmacokinetics
10. Safety Pharmacology
11. The Drug Discovery Process
12. Statistics and Experimental Design
13. Selected Pharmacological Methods
14. Exercises in Pharmacodynamics and Pharmacokinetics

Terry P. Kenakin is the recipient of the 2008 Poulsson Medal for Pharmacology awarded by the Norwegian Society of Pharmacology for achievements in basic and clinical pharmacology and toxicology. He has also been awarded the 2011 Ariens Award from the Dutch Pharmacological Society and the 2014 Gaddum Memorial Award from the British Pharmacological Society. Having been involved in drug discovery for over 30 years, his interests include the optimal design of drug activity assays systems and quantitative drug receptor theory. He is a member of numerous editorial boards as well as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Receptors and Signal Transduction and Current Opinion in Pharmacology. In addition, Dr. Kenakin has authored numerous articles and has also written a number of books on pharmacology.