Clinical pharmacology
Clinical pharmacology studies how medicines act in people, including their effects, doses, interactions, and safe use.
Pharmacokinetics: The study of how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and eliminates a drug. It describes how dosing produces the drug concentrations that clinical effects depend on.
Rational drug design: The design of medicines using knowledge of biological targets and mechanisms. Clinical effects and safety findings help shape which drug properties development should pursue.
Pharmacology: The study of how drugs and other chemical agents affect biological systems. Clinical pharmacology applies this broader science to medicines used in people.
Adverse drug reaction: A harmful, unintended response to a medicine used at a usual dose. Identifying and explaining these reactions is central to evaluating drug safety in people.
Preclinical research: Research conducted before a treatment is tested in human participants, often using laboratory or animal studies. It informs human studies but cannot fully predict how medicines act in patients.
Pharmacodynamics: The study of how drugs produce biological effects and how those effects change with concentration. It connects drug concentrations to intended and harmful effects in patients.
Dose optimization: The selection of a drug dose that balances desired effects with toxicity for a patient or population. It turns evidence about exposure and response into practical dosing decisions.
Clinical trial: A prospective study in which human participants receive interventions under a research protocol. Trials test efficacy, dosing, and safety before and after medicines enter routine care.
Pharmacovigilance: The detection, assessment, understanding, and prevention of adverse effects and other medicine-related problems. It monitors harms that may emerge after broader use than clinical trials can provide.
Basic pharmacology: Research on drug actions and biological mechanisms without necessarily studying treatment in human patients. Clinical pharmacology centers on human responses and practical therapeutic use.