Introduction to Pharmacokinetics and ADME in Drug Discovery

Understanding how the body processes a drug is a cornerstone of successful pharmaceutical development. This course provides a clear, step-by-step introduction to pharmacokinetics, helping you grasp how compounds transition from administration to elimination. You will gain the skills to interpret concentration-time profiles, calculate essential parameters, and apply these concepts to real-world drug discovery scenarios. Through written explanations and practical calculation exercises, you will learn to bridge the gap between drug concentration and therapeutic effect. What you'll learn: - Understand the foundational principles of ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) - Calculate key pharmacokinetic parameters including clearance, half-life, and volume of distribution - Analyze concentration-time curves to evaluate drug exposure and bioavailability - Compare in vivo pharmacokinetic studies with rapid in vitro assays used to screen early-stage compounds - Explore the fundamentals of PK/PD relationships to understand how drug concentration relates to pharmacological response - Apply modern in silico tools and modeling concepts used to predict ADME properties in contemporary drug design The course begins with core terminology and physiological pathways of drug administration, then guides you through mathematical modeling of drug behavior, and concludes with modern screening techniques used by drug discovery teams. This course is designed for students, researchers, and professionals new to pharmacology, requiring no prior background in advanced pharmacokinetics. Start reading today to build a strong foundation in how drugs behave inside the living system.