Clinical Pharmacology: Current Topics and Case Studies

Book excerpt: Today we witness an eventful time in which the powerful new forces of genomics, information technology and economics are rapidly changing the science and art of medicine. This will require more specialization than ever before. However, there is also an increasing demand for an integrated approach, which is provided by the discipline of Clinical Pharmacology (CP). CP pursues a scientific goal by studying drug action in patients and volunteers, a clinical goal by administering appropriate drug therapy and a regulatory goal by assessing the risk/benefit ratio of drug candidates in drug development and reimbursement. This introduction to current topics of CP covers traditional topics of clinical drug research and trial methodology but also provides insight in current topics like genomics, imaging technology and issues in drug reimbursement. A number of concrete case studies in clinical drug research and development help to give a better understanding of the general principles of CP.