PHAR 300 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Growth Hormone, Estradiol, Cimetidine

• School: McGill University
• Department: Pharmacology and Therapeutics
• Course: PHAR 300
• Professor: Edith Zorychta

Document Summary

Any chemical that has an effect on a living system, e. g. histamine, h1 blocker, cimetidine, e. g. prescription, over-the-counter drugs, cosmetics, tea/coffee, nicotine. Therapeutic applications of drugs: to treat or prevent specific diseases, e. g. hiv protease inhibitor, permit diagnosis and treatment of medical problems, alter physiological function, e. g. contraceptives, investigate disease, veterinary medicine, agriculture, performance alteration. Pharmacy vs. pharmacology: pharmacy is a business school to sell drugs, pharmacology is the science of drugs, training people for the use of drugs. Toxicology: the science of poisons, a subdivision of pharmacology. Side effects of drugs: there is no such thing as a drug that has no side-effects, a drug is biologically active in a living system, people most vulnerable are the really young and the really old. Sept. 8, 2015: some drugs are helpful in small doses but fatal in large doses, e. g. digitalis - effects on the heart, morphine is still derived from plants - used to treat pain o.