Entry requirements

The general rules laid down by the Curriculum Committee of the Faculty of Pharmacy apply (see programme curriculum).

Aims

Having completed the course, the student shall:

- understand the relationships between different pharmacokinetic parameters and how they influence a drug's absorption, distribution and elimination and how these parameters, together with pharmacodynamic factors, determine the intensity and duration of action of a drug.

- understand the mechanisms and causes of different types of drug interactions and how the dosage of a drug can be adapted for special populations such as patients with kidney and liver diseases, children and the elderly.

- be able to use statistical methods used in scientific research and interpret statistical results.

Content

The course comprises the absorption, distribution, metabolism and other elimination of drugs in the organism. Special emphasis is placed on oral administration of drugs. Calculation and evaluation of parameters describing pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes after single and repeated dosage are discussed. Other subjects discussed are:

- the relationships between drug concentration and time-course and the pharmacological effect, dosage strategies, interindividual variations in drug metabolism and drug interactions.

- in-vitro, in-situ and in-vivo methods of determining, and models for describing, the absorption, plasma protein binding, tissue distribution, hepatic and renal elimination and distribution pharmacokinetics of drugs.

- the dose-concentration and concentration-effect relationships for substance administered and metabolites formed after single and repeated dosage assuming both linear and nonlinear kinetics. Special emphasis is placed on causes of interindividual variability with respect to the use of drugs. The statistical part of the course deals with descriptiv statistics, regression, correlation and hypothesis testing.

Instruction

The course comprises group exercises, seminars, lectures and laboratory sessions.

Assessment

Written examinations are held at the end of the course. Resitting the examinations occurs 4-5 weeks after the end of the course in the autumn and in the end of August for the spring semester exam.