Advancement of Pharmacokinetics

Chem Comm 2025 - SST1:
Yoshioka Lili, Ang Sen Luen Matthias, Vijayaganapathy Pavithraa

1 :: INTRODUCTION TO PHARMACOKINETICS (PK)

Pharmacokinetics

Pharmacokinetics is the study of how the body interacts with administered substances for the entire duration of exposure (e.g. medicine).

(Grogan, S., & Preuss, C. V., 2023)

Importance of Pharmacokinetics

Drug Development

Drug Discovery

Drug discovery plays a key role in developing new therapies for the treatment of diseases that have previously been difficult to treat or have no effective treatment options. This leads to better healthcare outcomes, improved quality of life, and reduced healthcare costs.

Improved Therapies

Drug discovery also improves existing therapies by making them safer, more effective, and more targeted to specific patient populations. New therapies are developed through drug discovery to reduce the disease burden on individuals, families, and communities.

Contributions

The pharmaceutical industry contributes significantly to the economy, and drug discovery is a critical driver of this industry. It creates jobs, generates revenue, and contributes to economic growth. Drug discovery is a highly innovative field that requires the integration of multiple scientific disciplines, including chemistry. This fosters scientific progress and drives technological advancements in healthcare.

Key
Processes

Find out more about how pharmacokinetics works and its core concepts!

Relation To Chemistry

Pharmacokinetics applies chemistry, especially organic, physical, and analytical chemistry, to understand how a drug works in the body. Without chemistry, there’d be no way to predict or optimise how drugs behave after you take them.

The structure of a drug molecule — including polarity, solubility, and charge — influences how it is absorbed, distributed, metabolised, and excreted, which can be optimised with drug development and chemistry.