Biopharmaceutics and Clinical Pharmacokinetics

Biopharmaceutics is a major branch of the pharmaceutical sciences concerned with the relationship between the physicochemical properties of a drug in a dosage form and the pharmacologic, toxicologic, or clinical response observed after its administration. The study of biopharmaceutics has been extended beyond that of a descriptive discipline by the development of pharmacokinetics, which concerns the study and characterization of the time course of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion, as well as the relationship of these processes to the intensity and time course of therapeutic and adverse effects of drugs. Pharmacokinetics involves the application of mathematics and biochemistry in a physiologic and pharmacologic context. The development of clinical pharmacokinetics is the culmination and logical outcome of advances in the areas of pharmacokinetics, clinical pharmacology, analytic chemistry, biopharmaceutics, and therapeutics. Contents 1. Introduction to Pharmacokinetics, 2. Compartmental and Non compartmental Pharmacokinetics, 3. Gastrointestinal Absorption- Biologic Considerations, 4. Gastrointestinal Absorption-Physicochemical Considerations, 5. Gastrointestinal Absorption- Role of the Dosage Form, 6. Nonoral Medication, 7. Prolonged- Release Medication, 8. Bioavailability, 9. Drug Concentration- Distribution, 10. Drug Concentration- Elimination, 11. Pharmacokinetic Variability- Body weight, age, sex, and Genetic factors, 12. Pharmacokinetic Variability- Disease, 13. Pharmacokinetic Variability- Drug interactions, 14. Individualization and optimization of Drug Dosing Regimens About the Author Milo Gibaldi, is working as Dean, School of Pharmacy, and Associate Vice President, Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.