Small Animal Clinical Pharmacology - CYF MEDICAL DISTRIBUTION

CHAPTER 1 PRINCIPLES OF CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY
● Proprietary or trade names are usually specific to a
particular manufacturer and protected as trademarks.
They more frequently apply to a drug product.
One particular drug may be incorporated into a
number of different drug products that have a multitude
of trade names. As set out below in sections
describing intraspecies sources of variability, dosage
forms that are not identical can not uncommonly be
significant sources of variation in pharmacological
and clinical response.
EXAMPLE
Proprietary name: Rapifen®, Alfenta®
Common name: Alfentanil hydrochloride
Chemical name: N-(1-(2-(4-ethyl-4,5-dihydro-5-
oxo-1H-tetrazol-1-yl)ethyl)-4-
(methoxymethyl)-4-piperidinyl)-
N-phenylpropanamide
hydrochloride
CAS RN: 70879-28-6
CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS
Humans are predisposed to taxonomy and consequently
there is no single and unified system of drug classification.
Depending on the context, the following classifications
may prove useful.
● Chemical structure, e.g. steroids, barbiturates,
benzodiazepines, glycosides
● Principal pharmacological effect, e.g. bacteriostatic,
diuretic, sedative, anesthetic, analgesic, purgative,
antiemetic, anthelmintic, etc.
● Physiological effect, e.g. parasympathomimetic,
adrenergic, β-blocker, neuromuscular blocker
● Diagnostic use, e.g. radio-opaque dyes for contrast
radiography
● Prophylactic drugs, e.g. diethylcarbamazine for
heartworm prophylaxis
● Placebo (Latin: ‘I shall please’) – pharmacologically
inert but psychologically active
● Poisons – recall that Paracelsus stated that ‘all
drugs are poisons. It is only the dose that makes a
drug a poison’
Clearly, one drug may be classed a number of different
ways.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
The field of clinical pharmacology is rapidly expanding
and it is important to keep abreast of significant new
findings and high-quality objective evidence that may
allow refinements of therapeutic regimens. Continuing
education is frequently best if a variety of sources of
information are sought, particularly a mix of conferences,
symposia, meetings, discussions and journal subscriptions.
Some of the key written and electronic
sources are listed below. However, this list is far from
complete and clinicians are strongly encouraged to critically
appraise as broad a base of peer-reviewed information
as possible that is pertinent to each individual’s
field of practice.
Journals
There are a large number of journals available to veterinarians.
Those that have a particular and regular focus
on rational veterinary therapeutics and provide reviews
pertinent to clinical pharmacology include:
● Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica
● Annales de Recherche Veterinaire
● Compendium of Continuing Education for the
Practicing Veterinarian
● Journal of the American Veterinary Medical
Association
● Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine
● Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and
Therapeutics
● Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal
Practice
● Veterinary Medicine
● Veterinary Record.
Valuable background information from the human
medical arena is frequently found in the following
medical journals:
● British Medical Journal
● Clinical Pharmacokinetics
● Drug Information Journal.
● Journal of Clinical Pharmacology
● New England Journal of Medicine
● The Lancet.
Texts
● Adams HR (ed) 2001 Veterinary pharmacology and
therapeutics, 8th edn. Iowa State University Press,
Ames, IA.
● Bonagura J, Kirk R (ed) 1992/1995/2000 Kirk’s
current veterinary therapy, XI, XII and XIII. WB
Saunders, Philadelphia, PA.
● Brunton LL, Lazo JS, Parker KL (eds) 2005 Goodman
and Gilman’s the pharmacological basis of therapeutics,
11th edn. McGraw-Hill, New York.
● Gibaldi M (ed) 1991 Biopharmaceutics and clinical
pharmacokinetics, 4th edn. Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia,
PA.
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