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Nature Chemical Biology Nov 2008The dominant paradigm in drug discovery is the concept of designing maximally selective ligands to act on individual drug targets. However, many effective drugs act via... (Review)
Review
The dominant paradigm in drug discovery is the concept of designing maximally selective ligands to act on individual drug targets. However, many effective drugs act via modulation of multiple proteins rather than single targets. Advances in systems biology are revealing a phenotypic robustness and a network structure that strongly suggests that exquisitely selective compounds, compared with multitarget drugs, may exhibit lower than desired clinical efficacy. This new appreciation of the role of polypharmacology has significant implications for tackling the two major sources of attrition in drug development--efficacy and toxicity. Integrating network biology and polypharmacology holds the promise of expanding the current opportunity space for druggable targets. However, the rational design of polypharmacology faces considerable challenges in the need for new methods to validate target combinations and optimize multiple structure-activity relationships while maintaining drug-like properties. Advances in these areas are creating the foundation of the next paradigm in drug discovery: network pharmacology.
Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Drug Delivery Systems; Drug Design; Genomics; Humans; Pharmacology; Structure-Activity Relationship; Systems Biology
PubMed: 18936753
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.118 -
Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Jan 2019Online learning, an essential component of most traditional contact-based educational programs, must be of high quality to contribute effectively to learning. The... (Review)
Review
Online learning, an essential component of most traditional contact-based educational programs, must be of high quality to contribute effectively to learning. The availability of first-class web-based materials is particularly valued by both learners and educators in resource-poor nations. In this Practice article, we introduce the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR) Pharmacology Education Project (PEP) (https://www.pharmacologyeducation.org/), a freely accessible online learning resource intended to support education and training in pharmacological sciences worldwide.
Topics: Education, Distance; Humans; Internationality; Pharmacology
PubMed: 30588614
DOI: 10.1002/cpt.1278 -
JAMA Jun 1991
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Biochemical Pharmacology Jan 2014Pharmacology is an integrative discipline that originated from activities, now nearly 7000 years old, to identify therapeutics from natural product sources. Research in... (Review)
Review
Pharmacology is an integrative discipline that originated from activities, now nearly 7000 years old, to identify therapeutics from natural product sources. Research in the 19th Century that focused on the Law of Mass Action (LMA) demonstrated that compound effects were dose-/concentration-dependent eventually leading to the receptor concept, now a century old, that remains the key to understanding disease causality and drug action. As pharmacology evolved in the 20th Century through successive biochemical, molecular and genomic eras, the precision in understanding receptor function at the molecular level increased and while providing important insights, led to an overtly reductionistic emphasis. This resulted in the generation of data lacking physiological context that ignored the LMA and was not integrated at the tissue/whole organism level. As reductionism became a primary focus in biomedical research, it led to the fall of pharmacology. However, concerns regarding the disconnect between basic research efforts and the approval of new drugs to treat 21st Century disease tsunamis, e.g., neurodegeneration, metabolic syndrome, etc. has led to the reemergence of pharmacology, its rise, often in the semantic guise of systems biology. Against a background of limited training in pharmacology, this has resulted in issues in experimental replication with a bioinformatics emphasis that often has a limited relationship to reality. The integration of newer technologies within a pharmacological context where research is driven by testable hypotheses rather than technology, together with renewed efforts in teaching pharmacology, is anticipated to improve the focus and relevance of biomedical research and lead to novel therapeutics that will contain health care costs.
Topics: Animals; Cloning, Molecular; Humans; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Pharmacogenetics; Pharmacology; Receptors, Cell Surface
PubMed: 24070656
DOI: 10.1016/j.bcp.2013.09.011 -
Journal of Pharmacological and... 2018Safety Pharmacology studies are conducted to characterize the confidence by which biologically active new chemical entities (NCE) may be anticipated as safe.... (Review)
Review
Safety Pharmacology studies are conducted to characterize the confidence by which biologically active new chemical entities (NCE) may be anticipated as safe. Non-clinical safety pharmacology studies aim to detect and characterize potentially undesirable pharmacodynamic activities using an array of in silico, in vitro and in vivo animal models. While a broad spectrum of methodological innovation and advancement of the science occurs within the Safety Pharmacology Society, the society also focuses on partnerships with health authorities and technology providers and facilitates interaction with organizations of common interest such as pharmacology, physiology, neuroscience, cardiology and toxicology. Education remains a primary emphasis for the society through content derived from regional and annual meetings, webinars and publication of its works it seeks to inform the general scientific and regulatory community. In considering the future of safety pharmacology the society has developed a strategy to successfully navigate forward and not be mired in stagnation of the discipline. Strategy can be defined in numerous ways but generally involves establishing and setting goals, determining what actions are needed to achieve those goals, and mobilizing resources within the society to accomplish the actions. The discipline remains in rapid evolution and its coverage is certain to expand to provide better guidance for more systems in the next few years. This overview from the Safety Pharmacology Society will outline the strategic plan from 2016 to 2018 and beyond and provide insight into the future of the discipline which builds upon a previous strategic plan established in 2009.
Topics: Animals; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; Humans; Pharmacology; Societies, Scientific
PubMed: 29330132
DOI: 10.1016/j.vascn.2018.01.001 -
British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology Nov 2013
Topics: Drug Design; Drug Therapy; Humans; Pharmacology; Pharmacology, Clinical
PubMed: 23362953
DOI: 10.1111/bcp.12088 -
Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi Dec 2002
Topics: Biomedical Research; China; Humans; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Neuropharmacology; Pharmacogenetics; Pharmacology; Pharmacology, Clinical
PubMed: 12641945
DOI: No ID Found -
Pharmacological Research Apr 2024Here we present an account on the history of pharmacology in Spain. Pharmacology as an independent science in Europe began with the creation of university chairs. Of...
Here we present an account on the history of pharmacology in Spain. Pharmacology as an independent science in Europe began with the creation of university chairs. Of particular relevance was the appointment in 1872 of Osswald Shmiedeberg as chairman of an Institute of Pharmacology at the University of Strassbourg, Germany. Teófilo Hernando pioneered in Spain the new emerging pharmacology at the beginning of the XX Century. He made a posdoctoral stay in the laboratory of Schmiedeberg, working on digitalis. In 1912 he won the chair of "Materia Médica y Arte de Recetar" at "Universidad Central of Madrid" (today, "Universidad Complutense de Madrid", UCM). He soon decided to transform such subject to the emerging modern pharmacology, with the teaching of experimental pharmacology in the third course of medical studies and clinical therapeutics (today clinical pharmacology) in the sixth course. This was the status of pharmacology in 1920, supporting the view that Hernando was a pioneer of clinical pharmacology. However, the Spanish Civil War and the II Word War interropted this division of preclinical and clinical pharmacology; only in the 1980's was clinical pharmacolgy partially developed in Spain. From a scientific point of view, Hernando directly trained various young pharmacologists that extended the new science to various Spanish universities. Some of his direct disciples were Benigno Lorenzo Velázquez, Francisco García Valdecasas, Rafael Méndez, Tomás Alday, Gabriel Sánchez de la Cuesta, Dámaso Gutiérrez or Ramón P é rez-Cirera. One of the central research subject was the analysis of the effects of digitalis on the cat and frog heart. In the initiation of the 1970 s pharmacologists trained by those Hernando's students grew throughout various universities and the "Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas" (CSIC). And hence, in 1972 the "Sociedad Española de Farmacología" (SEF) emerged. Later on, in the 1990's the "Sociedad Española de Farmacología Clínica (SEFC) also emerged. The relationship between the two societies is still weak. Out of the vast scope of the pharmacological sciences, Spanish pharmacologists have made relevant contributions in two areas namely, neuropsychopharmacology and cardiovacular pharmacology. Nonetheless, in other areas such as smooth muscle, gastroenterology, pharmacogenetics and hepatic toxicity, Spanish pharmacologists have also made relevant contributions. A succint description of such contributions is made. Finally, some hints on perspectives for the further development of preclinical and clinical pharmacology in Spain, are offered.
Topics: Humans; Spain; Europe; Pharmacology, Clinical; Pharmacogenetics; Pharmacology
PubMed: 38364957
DOI: 10.1016/j.phrs.2024.107104 -
A framework for simplification of quantitative systems pharmacology models in clinical pharmacology.British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology Feb 2022Quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) is a relatively new discipline within modelling and simulation that has gained wide attention over the past few years. The... (Review)
Review
Quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) is a relatively new discipline within modelling and simulation that has gained wide attention over the past few years. The application of QSP models spans drug-target identification and validation, through all drug development phases as well as clinical applications. Due to their detailed mechanistic nature, QSP models are capable of extrapolating knowledge to predict outcomes in scenarios that have not been tested experimentally, making them an important resource in experimental and clinical pharmacology. However, these models are complicated to work with due to their size and inherent complexity. This makes many applications of QSP models for simulation, parameter estimation and trial design computationally intractable. A number of techniques have been developed to simplify QSP models into smaller models that are more amenable to further analyses while retaining their accurate predictive capabilities. Different simplification techniques have different strengths and weaknesses and hence different utilities. Understanding the utilities of different methods is essential for selection of the best method for a particular situation. In this paper, we have created an overall framework for model simplification techniques that allows a natural categorisation of methods based on their utility. We provide a brief description of the concept underpinning the different methods and example applications. A summary of the utilities of methods is intended to provide a guide to modellers in their model endeavours to simplify these complicated models.
Topics: Computer Simulation; Drug Development; Humans; Models, Biological; Network Pharmacology; Pharmacology; Pharmacology, Clinical
PubMed: 32621550
DOI: 10.1111/bcp.14451 -
Pharmacological Research Dec 2020
Topics: History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Pharmacology; Portugal; Societies, Scientific
PubMed: 33232826
DOI: 10.1016/j.phrs.2020.105310