Undergraduate - UnitPHA3042 - Modern drug development

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Synopsis

Modern drug development will provide the student with an appreciation of the process of discovery, testing, approval and marketing of new drugs. This will include the diseases most likely to be targeted by pharmaceutical companies for drug development; the technical issues underlying drug discovery; the role of genomics in identifying novel targets; rational drug design; the importance of screens including molecular models and high throughput screening; disease models; case studies illustrating the successful development of drugs. Career opportunities in all aspects of drug development will be highlighted.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit students will: have gained a broad understanding of how new drugs are developed, understand the major mechanisms whereby targets for drug action are identified, have developed an understanding of the various classes of drugs and how these can modify disease processes, be knowledgeable regarding the important screening systems used in screening of potentially useful compounds, have developed skills to critically evaluate the scientific literature in the area of drug development, understand the design, performance and evaluation of experiments to develop new drugs, have developed skills in obtaining and using scientific information to write and present reports and essays.

Assessment

Examination (2 hours): 60%
Written assignment: 16%
Practical exercises and written reports: 24%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Emma Jones

Contact hours

Two 1-hour lectures and three hours of laboratory or self-directed learning/ tutorial per week.

Prerequisites

PHA3011, PHA3021