Ateneo - UPO

The course will focus on the general principles of biotechnological drugs and advanced therapies, as well as focusing on selective biotech drug classes. The course will also introduce the European and Italian Pharmaceutical system and the drug development strategies.
Furthermore, the course will concentrate on the safety and efficacy profile, including the definition of sub-groups.

1) Rossi, Cuomo - Farmacologia;
2) Katzung, Vanderah - Farmacologia generale e clinica
3) MORE COMPLICATED TEXT:Goodman and Gilman, Basi di Farmacologia (to be consulted in the library)
3) scientific literature;
4) documents on the EMA and FDA website

1) introduction to the general principles of pharmacology;
2) Define the peculiarities of biotech and advanced products compared to traditional drugs;
3) Illustrate the process of pharmaceutical R&D with examples;
4) Provide intellectual instruments to the student to define a rationale drug discovery program;

To fully learn the subject it is necessary to know:
- organic chemistry;
- biochemistry;
- physiology;
- pathology.

traditional lectures and reading material on the course website. The course will be interspersed with a practical laboratory session (not mandatory) and group work.

The exam consists of a written test with multiple choice questions and open questions, for a total of 31 points.

The development of a drug: preclinical phase and clinical phase
Pharmacodynamics: receptors and signal transduction; concept of agonist and antagonist, dose-response curve.
Pharmacokinetics: absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of drugs
Neurotransmission: pharmacological tools
Biotech drugs: therapeutic proteins, monoclonal antibodies, vaccines

Inflammatory and pain medications: NSAIDs, glucocorticoids; opiates.
Chemotherapeutics (antibacterial and oncological)
Cardiocirculatory system drugs: anti-arrhythmic drugs, decompensation drugs, antithrombotic drugs and anticoagulant and fibrinolytic drugs.
Anti-dyslipidemic drugs
Drugs for diabetes: insulin and oral hypoglycemics and the new ones.
- Nervous system drugs: drugs for Parkinson's disease, antidepressants, anxiolytics, sedative-hypnotics, anti-epileptics.
Respiratory system drugs
+ TOXICOLOGY and PHARMACOGENETICS (10h)

The aim of the course is to provide to the Biology student a basis of general pharmacology applied to clinical practice. Briefly, the knowledge of the concepts of agonism and antagonism, of substitutive, etiological and symptomatic drugs, in parallel with the knowledge of the causes of a pathology, will allow the students to understand the right therapy. Furthermore, the knowledge of biological targets, where they are expressed in the body and of which drugs are them the target, can allow to understand also the adverse effects of drugs in therapy. At the end of the course, the student will acquire a scientific language and will know how to use the correct terms to indicate the action of a drug.
In the event that the student was interested, this course can also provide the basis for approaching pre-clinical scientific research.