Ateneo - UPO

The following drugs will be addressed from a medicinal chemistry perspective (structure, SAR, physicochemical properties, interactions with the target, metabolism): Anticancer drugs; Antiviral drugs.

G. Costantino, G. Sbardella, Chimica Farmaceutica, EdiSES A. Gasco, F. Gualtieri, C. Melchiorre Chimica Farmaceutica Casa Editrice

The course aims to introduce students to the main drugs used as anticancer and antiviral agents and is integrated with the subsequent courses in Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and Special Medicinal Chemistry for the study of the main drug classes. The specific objectives of the course, classified according to the Dublin Descriptors, are as follows: Knowledge and understanding At the end of the course, the student will have knowledge of and understand the main drugs used in anticancer and antiviral therapy. Applying knowledge and understanding For both the drugs specifically studied and structurally related compounds, the student will be able to apply the acquired knowledge and understanding to the recognition of their structures, discussion of their chemical and physicochemical properties, mechanisms of action, structure–activity relationships, metabolic properties, and the proposal of possible synthetic pathways for their production. Making judgments The student will be able to use the acquired knowledge to evaluate structure–activity relationships, metabolism and related toxicity, production processes, and drug–drug interactions. Additionally, the student will be provided with the necessary tools to critically assess scientific texts and articles in medicinal chemistry. Communication skills The student will be able to clearly and effectively present a topic covered in the course—also in an original way—and respond appropriately to questions, critiques, and suggestions. Learning skills The student will develop the ability to manage and update their knowledge of drug chemistry in a dynamic and increasingly autonomous manner.

Passing all first-year exams is a prerequisite for all third-year exams. General Pathology, Medical Terminology, and Immunology is also a prerequisite.

The course consists of lectures supported by slides, which are provided to students at the beginning of the course. Both general and specific topics will be presented, offering the essential knowledge needed to understand the subject matter. The course also aims to foster discussions with students and to illustrate how to develop skills—transferable across different classes of drugs—such as predicting the chemical and physicochemical properties of drugs based on their structure, identifying key structural elements related to the drug’s mechanism of action, and recognizing alerting groups that may lead to toxic effects. At the end of the course, blackboard exercises will also be carried out in preparation for the exam.

Students with disabilities, Specific Learning Disorders (SLD), or Special Educational Needs (SEN) may request dedicated services and tools by contacting the Career Development and Student Services Coordination Staff and by consulting the dedicated page on the university website: https://uniupo.it/it/servizi/servizi-studenti-disabili-e-dsa. Once they have contacted the university staff, students with disabilities, SLD, or SEN may also reach out to the course instructor to discuss exam arrangements and other teaching-related aspects.

The exam consists of a written test including questions where the structure of a drug is provided along with brief related questions, and questions where the INN (International Nonproprietary Name) is given and the student is asked to indicate the chemical structure along with the drug’s properties. These questions aim to assess both the student's understanding of the course content and their ability to apply such knowledge to antitumor and antiviral drugs. This includes recognizing the structure of a chemotherapeutic agent, identifying functional groups, acidic, basic, and stereogenic centers, predicting metabolic reactions, outlining synthetic routes for drug preparation, etc. Through these assessments, it will be verified whether the student has achieved the learning objectives in terms of knowledge and understanding of the content, the ability to present it clearly and accurately, and the ability to apply acquired knowledge and skills to specific problems related to the pharmaceutical-chemical aspects of the drug classes covered.

Antitumor drugs: Drugs acting on nucleic acids: intercalating agents, topoisomerase poisons, alkylating agents, metal-based agents, chain-cleaving agents Drugs acting on tubulin Drugs acting on enzymes (DHFR, thymidylate synthase, HDAC) Anti-estrogens and aromatase inhibitors Kinase inhibitors (GFR and Bcr-Abl) Miscellaneous: proteasome inhibitors, thalidomide and derivatives Brief mention of ADCs (antibody-drug conjugates) Antiviral drugs: General overview, main drugs used, anti-HIV drugs, anti-influenza drugs, and anti-hepatitis C drugs.

The student will have learned the chemical, metabolic, and drug-likeness aspects of the main antitumor and antiviral drugs and will be able to apply this knowledge—also to other drugs not necessarily covered during lectures—with a critical mindset.