General Pharmacology
Objectives
Pharmacology aims to know drugs in their broadest sense: substances of chemical or biological origin that interfere with physiological and pathophysiological processes.
The learning outcomes are mainly cognitive: memory, comprehension, application of concepts and problem solving. In small groups classes, attitudes and soft skills are also addressed.
Learning outcomes:
Identify molecular targets and pathways that are druggable and those for which there are already drugs available
Justify the main pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic principles and apply them to particular drugs
Apply the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics principles to specific drugs/situations
Integrate the principles of pharmacology in the process of drug evaluation (efficacy, safety and quality)
Apply the principles of drug evaluation to specific situations: generics and biosimilar
General characterization
Code
11119
Credits
4
Responsible teacher
Prof.ª Doutora Sofia de Azeredo Pereira
Hours
Weekly - Available soon
Total - Available soon
Teaching language
Portuguese
Prerequisites
Bibliography
Support material for main lectures will be posted on intranet prior to each lesson. This material will become unavailable after 2nd season exam.
Books
RANG & DALE'S PHARMACOLOGY, Rang et al., 9th edition, Elsevier/Churchill Livingstone, 2019
PRINCIPLES OF PHARMACOLOGY The Pathophysiologic Basis of Drug Therapy D. E. Golan, E. J. Armstrong, A. W. Armstrong, 4th edition, Wolters Kluwer, 2017
BASIC & CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, B. G. Katzung and A. J. Trevor, 14th edition, McGrawHill Companies, Inc., 2018
GOODMAN & GILMANS THE PHARMACOLOGICAL BASIS OF THERAPEUTICS. L. L. Brunton, B. C. Knollmann, R. Hilal-Dandan, 13th Edition, McGrawHill, 2018
TERAPÊUTICA MEDICAMENTOSA E SUAS BASES FARMACOLÓGICAS
S.Guimarães, D.Moura e P.Soares da Silva, 6ª edição, Porto Editora, 2014
Websites
Pubmed for Scientific papers: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
The International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR) / British Pharmacological Society (BPS) Guide to PHARMACOLOGY is an expert-curated resource of ligand-activity-target relationships, it is a portal to pharmacological information and its main aim is to provide a searchable database with quantitative information on drug targets and the prescription medicines and experimental drugs available for them. https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/
Autoridade Nacional do Medicamento e Produtos de Saúde, I.P INFARMED https://app10.infarmed.pt/prontuario/index.php
European Medicines Agency
https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines
Teaching method
General Pharmacology is a one semester course that has a workload of 4 ECTS with 3 contact hours/week:
Main lectures: 2 lessons of 50 minutes;
Theoretical-Practical (TP) lessons - 1 hour of formative evaluation classes in small groups of students (maximum 16). The main objectives of TP are to stimulate, consolidate and monitor individual work during the semester on topics presented in theoretic lesson and their integration.
Teaching language is Portuguese but the slides content and bibliography are presented in English.
Evaluation method
Final evaluation includes the distributed evaluation obtained in small groups teaching (TP); a written multiple-choice examination in Portuguese (compulsory) and an oral (optional) exam. Oral exam is allowed for students with classification more or equal to 9.5 on written multiple-choice assessment.
Distributed evaluation in TP will include the attitude of the student and assertiveness in answers and discussing topics related to theoretic lessons and correspond to 30% of final grade.
A minimal grade of 10/20 in both exams is needed to get approval, except for foreign students where no minimal scores in the written test and TP are required.
Subject matter
1. Concepts in Pharmacology
2. General principles of pharmacokinetics
3. General principles of pharmacodynamics
4. Administration routs and drug formulation
5. Drugs that modify the adrenergic transmission
6. Drugs that modify the cholinergic transmission
7. General pharmacology of inflammation
8. General pharmacology of histamine
9. Pharmacology of cellular proliferation: focus on antitumoral dugs
10. Drugs that are proteins
11. Pharmacology of the ionic transport
12. Local anaesthetics
13. General anaesthetics
14. General mechanisms of drug toxicity
15. General principles of drug evaluation
16. Generic and biosimilar drugs
17. From origin to therapeutic use: the life cycle of a drug
18. Clinical trials and marketing authorization
19. General mechanisms of drug interactions
20. Pharmacological basis of precision medicine