Introduction to the course
Welcome to the course BB2170 Drug Development!
During the course lectures will be given to present the different stages in the development of a new drug, from identification of a relevant target, research and development, to clinical trials and release of the final product. Topics that will be discussed include pharmacology, physiology, target identification and validation, methods for generation of active substances, different classes of substances and their pharmacological properties, safety requirements and documentation in industrial production, entrepreneurship and development of young research companies, and patent issues in the context of biotechnology and drug development.
All lectures will be held by invited specialists with extensive experience in their respective fields. Take the opportunity to ask them questions! The course coordinator will be present during all lectures.
Aims
After the course you should be able to describe and discuss the different steps in the process of drug development.
- define important concepts within drug discovery and drug development, state which types of studies are used in the process of drug development, and describe which methods are employed in the different steps
- explain what effects administration, absorption, distribution and elimination have on the dosing of drugs and their equilibrium concentrations, as well as drawing dose-response curves for different types of ligands
- state which are the commercially important therapeutic areas, describe which classes of drug targets are common, and make an analysis of why these are the dominating classes
- describe and compare classic strategies for the generation of drug substances to the use of combinatorial libraries and screening; identify advantages and disadvantages
- identify important differences between different classes of drug substances (proteins, peptides and small, organic molecules) with respect to pharmacokinetics, production, safety and therapeutic areas
- prioritize between different candidate drugs for further development from their chemical and preclinical properties
Project
During the course you will work with a literature project, where you are supposed to make use of what you learn during the lectures. You will work with a drug substance currently on the market, and evaluate different aspects of the drug in your report. The project should be presented both in a written report (individually) and an oral presentation (in group). In addition, you are required to read and be prepared to discuss other students' reports.
Literature
The course literature consists of lecture notes, handouts and review articles that will be provided during the course.
Examination and Grading
At the end of the course there will be a written examination. The exam will have both questions requiring only a short answer and questions requiring more elaborate answers.
To pass the course, you are required to complete two things:
- The project (not graded; pass/fail) (2 hp)
- The written examination (graded) (4 hp)
Your final grade on the completed course (6 hp) will be based on the results of the written examination.