It is the profession responsible for the preparation, dispensing, and appropriate use of medication, and provides services to achieve optimal therapeutic outcomes. Pharmacology is the study of the effects of chemical agents of therapeutic value or with the potential toxicity on biological systems. Pharmacodynamics is the study of the molecular, biochemical, and physiological effects of drugs on cellular systems and their mechanisms of action. Pharmacokinetics deals with the absorption, distribution, and excretion of drugs. Pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic aspects of action of chemical agents also apply to related areas of study, including toxicology and therapeutics.
Toxicology is the study of the adverse or toxic effects of drugs and other chemical agents.
It is concerned not only with drugs used in the treatment of disease, but also with chemicals that may present household, environmental, or industrial hazards. Therapeutics focuses on the correlation of the actions and effects of drugs and other chemical agents with the physiological, biochemical, microbiological, immunological, or behavioral factors influencing disease. Each of these areas is closely interwoven with the subject matter and experimental techniques of physiology, biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, microbiology, immunology, genetics, and pathology. Neuropharmacologists study drug actions from a number of the different viewpoints. They may probe the neurochemical disorders underlying specific disease states to find new ways to use drugs in the treatment of disease.