How Are Drugs Used Clinically in Patients?
The study of the therapeutic uses and effects of drugs in patients is called pharmacotherapeutics. The focus of pharmacotherapy is the patient, not the drug or the disease.
Drugs do not behave in the same way in all individuals, and patientto-patient variability in drug response is very common. Therapeutic variability may be caused by differences in patient body size and composition, age, disease, environmental factors, and genetic influences. It may also be attributable to drug interactions that result from two drugs competing for the same mechanisms during a pharmacodynamic or an ADME process. A thorough understanding of pharmaceutical sciences is essential in providing appropriate pharmacotherapy, and in anticipating and avoiding drug interactions.
