PHARMACOLOGY:
(Greek: Pharmacon-drug; logos-discourse in)
Pharmacology is the science of drugs. In a broad sense, it deals with interaction of exogenously administered chemical molecules (drugs) with living systems. It encompasses all aspects of knowledge about drugs, but most importantly those that are relevant to effective and safe use for medicinal purposes. For many years, most drugs were crude natural products of unknown composition and limited efficacy. Only the overt effects of these substances on the body were rather imprecisely known, but how the same were produced was entirely unknown. //over the past 100 years or so, drugs have been purified, chemically characterized and a vast variety of highly potent and selective new drugs have been developed. The mechanism of action including molecular target of many drugs has been elucidiated. This has been possible due to prolific growth of pharmacology which forms the backbone of rational therapeutics.
The two main divisions of pharmacology are: Pharmacodynamics and Pharmacokinetics.
Ref.: "Essentials of Medical Pharmacology, fifth edition, by KD Tripathi"
