Titular Professors
Chemistry, Biochemistry, Human Anatomy, Human Physiology, Physiopathology
Learning Outcomes of this subject are:
1. To understand the process of research, production, and marketing of medications.
2. To identify therapeutic groups, drugs, and pharmaceutical forms, as well as their behavior in the body.
3. To understand the process of dispensing and administering medications in different healthcare settings.
4. To gain autonomy in searching for the pharmacological properties and safety of medications in reliable bibliographic sources.
5. To understand that an individual's genetic characteristics explain part of the individual variability in terms of efficacy and toxicity.
6. To be able to evaluate the pathophysiological processes specific to each individual to undertake individualized therapeutic approaches.
7. To understand sex differences and gender inequalities in etiology, anatomy, physiology, and pathologies, in differential diagnosis, therapeutic options, and pharmacological response, and in prognosis; in patient care, as well as in other types of diagnoses and health interventions.
8. To solve practical situations by applying the acquired knowledge.
1.- Pharmacology Basics
1.1.- Pharmacodynamics (Principles of drug action and Drug?receptor interactions)
1.2.- Pharmacokinetics (Drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion)
1.3.- Pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics
1.4.- Toxicology basics
2.- Pharmaceutical Technologies
2.1.- Pharmaceutical formulation and Dosage Forms
2.2.- Enteral formulations
2.3.- Topical formulations
2.4.- Parenteral formulations
2.5.- Other formulations
2.6.- Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
2.7.- Medicines packaging and conditioning
3.- Drug Development, Pharmacotherapeutic Process and eHealth
3.1.- Drug Research, Development and Marketing.
3.2.- Integrated Healthcare process and Pharmacotherapeutic Process. Diagnosis, Indication, Prescription, Dispensing, Administration.
3.3.- Drug-related problems, Adverse Drug Reactions and Deprescription.
3.4.- Conciliation, Adherence, Medication Review, Medication Use Review and Medication Therapy Management.
3.5.- Interprofessional Communication and eHealth Systems.
3.6.- Drug misuse and dependence
ATC - Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System and International Non-propietary Names (INN) for Pharmaceutical Substances
A - Alimentary tract and metabolism
A.1.- Drugs acting on the gastrointestinal tract
A.2.- Antidiabetic agents
B - Blood and blood forming organs
B.1.-Drugs used to affect blood coagulation
B.2.- Agents used in anaemias
C - Cardiovascular system
C.1.- Drugs used in hypertension
C.2.- Lipid-lowering drugs
C.3.- Drugs used in angina
C.4.- Antiarrhythmic drugs
C.5.- Drugs used in heart failure
D - Dermatologicals
G - Genito-urinary system and sex hormones: Sex hormones and drugs
H - Systemic hormonal preparations, excluding sex hormones and insulins
H.1.- Thyroid and antithyroid drugs
H.2.- Corticosteroids
J - Antiinfectives for systemic use
J.1.- Antibacterial drugs
J.2.- Antifungal drugs
J.3.- Antiviral drugs
L - Antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents
L.1.- Drugs used in cancer
L.2.- Immunosuppressants and antirheumatoid drugs
M - Musculo-skeletal system: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and opioid analgesics
N - Nervous system
N.1.- Local anaesthetics
N.2.- Drugs acting on the autonomic nervous system and anticholinergic burden
N.3.- General anaesthetics
N.4.- Anxiolytics and hypnotics
N.5.- Antiepileptic drugs
N.6.- Drugs used in Parkinson?s disease
N.7.- Drugs used in Alzheimer?s disease
N.8.- Antipsychotic drugs (aka neuroleptics)
N.9.- Antidepressants
P - Antiparasitic products, insecticides and repellents
R - Respiratory system: COPD, asthma, hay fever and anaphylaxis
S - Sensory organs: Ocular pharmacology
The Pharmacology course will combine theoretical sessions with practical application sessions and continuous assessment, consisting of various activities: guided resolution of exercises and cases, seminars on real applications of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Engineering, directed assignments, and cooperative learning. Activities will be proposed for students to complete and submit to the teacher, and others will be conducted and/or presented in class, with the aim of promoting active participation.
The Pharmacology course will follow a continuous assessment model with:
- Practical group activities
- Continuous-assessment quizzes
- Theoretical exams
Ordinary Call
Part I: Practical Group Activities (30% - Highly Important Academic Activity). Activities will be carried out based on technological solutions aimed at addressing problems related to the pharmacotherapeutic process, either identified by the student group or proposed by the professor to the group. Proactivity in the development of the work will be positively valued.
Part II: Theory Assessment (70%)
Quiz-tests for continuous assessment (10% - Moderately Important Academic Activity). These will be conducted in the class following the completion of a thematic block and will be announced in the prior session to promote attendance. Notification will also be given at the same time on the course's Virtual Campus. Between 7 and 10 quiz-tests will be conducted throughout the semester with a weighting of 10%. Participation in the quiz-tests is not mandatory, but students who have answered all the quiz-tests in class will receive an extra 3% on the final grade (0.3 out of 10) regardless of the quiz-test results. This extra score will only apply if a 10 is not achieved with the overall computation of the course's activities, and the final grade will never exceed 10.
Theoretical Exams (60% - Highly Important Academic Activities). Students will have two options for the distribution of the syllabus, which must be communicated before the Midterm:
Two Partial Theoretical Exams:
First Partial Exam (p1) (22%). Midterm exam of the syllabus covering the 3 blocks of Basic Pharmacology, Pharmaceutical Technologies, and the Pharmacotherapeutic Process and eHealth.
Second Partial Exam (p2) (38%). At the end of the course, simultaneously with the final exams, covering the remaining syllabus of the blocks related to the pharmacology of therapeutic groups.
A Single Final Theoretical Exam (F) (60%). At the end of the course covering the entire syllabus of the course.
To pass the course, it is essential to have scores equal to or greater than 5 in the group work and theory assessment, and the overall grade must be 5 or higher. If students opt for the two partial exams and fail the first partial exam, they must take the entire syllabus of the course at the final theoretical exam, and the first partial exam will have no liberating effect on the syllabus. If the minimum grade of 5 is not achieved in the mentioned parts and overall, the course will be failed and the student will have to attend the second call. Failure to submit other activities will result in a score of 0 in the final grade.
Extraordinary Call
For the second call, the grades of the passed parts will be maintained. If the theoretical exams are failed, the points from the quiz-tests will not be considered in the second call. This second call will consist of an assessment where students will only present the failed part in the first call: 70% final theoretical exam on the knowledge of the contents presented in the course and/or 30% of the group work.
- Rang & Dale's Pharmacology. 10th Edition. Elsevier; 2023.
- Neal M J. Medical Pharmacology at a Glance. 9th Edition. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell; 2020.
- Katzung's Basic and Clinical Pharmacology. 16th Edition. New York: Lange - McGraw Hill; 2019.
- Lorenzo Fernández P, et al. dirs. Velázquez. Manual de farmacología. Básica y clínica. 1a ed. Madrid: Ed. Médica Panamericana; 2012.
Check basic bibliography.