CHEM 106: Drugs in Society

Class Program

Credits

Weekly Contact Hours

Meets Degree Requirements For

Natural Science

Description

Explores the basis of drug action, major categories of drugs, as well as risks and benefits of drug use from an individual, social and economic viewpoint. Other topics include historical perspective and ethnopharmacology; delivery, absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination of drugs; modern drug development and regulation.

Recommended Prerequisites

MATH 98 and ENGL 202 OR ENGL 203.

Prerequisite Courses

ENGL& 101: Composition: General

Course Learning Outcomes

Qualitatively relate drug structure to effect, drug concentration and delivery route to effect, and by relating consumption and cost to individual, social and economic risk/benefit analysis

Write a position paper that takes a drug – prescription, OTC, or drug of abuse – and addresses history, mechanism of action, routes of delivery, health effects, and overall relative cost to benefit

Engage in discussions on the merits and detriments of variously used biologically active agents

Use information gained in the class to develop a more nuanced perspective on the role of drugs in modern society, as evidenced primarily by the position paper, and in class discussion

Core Topics

Describe the structure of a drug molecule based on known bonding constraints of the atoms comprising the drug
Draw drug molecules using Lewis structures and bond-line formulas, and relate drug structure to function, identifying pharmacophores for select classes of drugs
Understand the concept of polarity, and the critical role it plays in the disposition of drugs; in particular relate “fat-like” or “water-like” characteristics to residence time in the body
Understand the influence of salt formation on the physical properties of drug molecules, as well as the acid-base reactions that lead to their formation
Appreciate the value of buffering in the body, and the influence a buffered environment has on drug disposition
List the key components of the scientific method, their importance, and the role technological advancement plays in scientific discovery
Describe the role drugs have played in human society from a historical and cultural perspective, and identify key discoveries leading to our current understanding of drug action
Define the concept of drug specificity, and contrast against the historical use of “galenicals”
Define the concept of a receptor as a drug target, and identify the principal types of receptors in the body
Define the receptor in terms of cellular function, and what the natural role of the receptor is
Identify the principal types of cellular receptor
Define the various means (agonist, antagonist, partial agonist) drugs may interact with a cellular receptor
Identify what is meant by the pharmacokinetic acronym ADME, and the role each has in the disposition of a drug
List the principal route(s) of phase I and phase II metabolism
Define bioactivation, first-pass metabolism, bioavailability, volume of distribution, and related pharmacokinetic terms
Describe toxicity in terms of the therapeutic index
Describe toxicity in terms of drug specificity/target selectivity
List the principal steps in how new drug entities are developed and what the role of the FDA is in the drug development process
List the principal US legislation governing the development, distribution, and use of drugs in the United States, and the driving force for each
Understand the scheduling of drugs with addictive potential via The Controlled Substances Act, and be able to place select drugs in each of the categories
Appreciate the influence antibiotics and vaccines have had on society, and define terms associated with their development and use
Describe the social and economic value and costs of drugs, for prescribed, OTC, and drugs of abuse, by evaluating a drug (of the student’s choice) using the understanding developed over the course of the quarter and writing an 8-10 page position paper