Pharmacology involves the study and description of the actions of drugs and chemicals on cells, tissues and the whole body. It includes researching how drugs produce beneficial and adverse effects, and improving the way drugs are tested to give greater benefit in the treatment of disease. The cellular and chemical abnormalities of disease states are studied in the expectation that molecules may be designed specifically to correct the abnormality.
Pharmacology is the basis of much of the research and development of new drugs.
The future of pharmacology is assured, as there remain many diseases for which neither cure nor palliation have been devised - for example, Alzheimer's disease, AIDS, many forms of cancer. Even when a cure or treatment is available few medicines are perfect, and the search for better drugs continues. In addition other scientists such as physiologists, biochemists and psychologists often find a knowledge of pharmacology useful as they use drugs to probe and define the biological systems that they are studying. Toxicology is closely related to Pharmacology but specialises in the study of the harmful effects of drugs and other chemicals on biological systems. The variety of potential adverse effects and the diversity of chemicals in the environment make toxicology a very broad science.