Lecture: Pharmacodynamics

This lecture introduces pharmacodynamics, focusing on the relationship between drug concentration and effect, key PD concepts like receptor theory and dose-response models, and how PK/PD integration is used to predict therapeutic outcomes and variability in drug response.

Learning Objectives

The main learning objectives are

• 🎯 Define pharmacodynamics and understand its role in drug action.
• 🎯 Describe the relationship between drug concentration and effect.
• 🎯 Understand receptor theory, including affinity, efficacy, and potency.
• 🎯 Introduce dose-response relationships, including Emax and EC50.
• 🎯 Understand types of PD models (e.g., direct effect models, indirect response models, sigmoidal Emax models).
• 🎯 Explore variability in pharmacodynamic response (e.g., tolerance, sensitization).
• 🎯 Learn how PD models are used to predict therapeutic and toxic effects.
• 🎯 Understand the integration of PK and PD models to simulate time-course of drug effects.
• 🎯 Introduce examples of PD modeling in drug development and clinical practice.

Lecture

Download: L08_Koenig_MB19_Pharmacodynamics.pdf