[CHEM 2550] - Midterm Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes for the exam (32 pages long!)

• School: York University
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: CHEM 2550
• Professor: Sean Madorin

Document Summary

Therapeutic classification: organizing drugs based on their therapeutic usefulness in treating particular diseases. For example, anticoagulants, antihyperlipidemics, and antihypertensives (these treat cardiac disorders). Other examples: antidepressants, antipsychotics, drugs for erectile dysfunction, and antineoplastics. Pharmacologic classification: organizing drugs based on the way the drug works at the molecular, tissue, and body system levels. Addresses a drug"s mechanism of action, or how a drug produces its physiological effect in the body. Examples for hypertension: a diuretic treats hypertension by lowering plasma volume, calcium channel blockers treat by decreasing cardiac contractility, block intermediates of the renin angiotensin pathway. A drug"s pharmacologic classification is more specific than a therapeutic classification and requires a more in depth understanding of biochemistry and physiology. Prototype drug: a well-understood drug model with which other drugs in its representative class are compared. The original drug prototype is not always the most used drug in its class.