Therapeutic Chemistry

Recommended Prerequisites

Attendance and approval of the following subjects: Biologia Celular e Molecular, Farmacologia, Química Orgânica e Biomolecular.

Teaching Methods

The lectures are expositive sessions with the support of slide presentations made available to the students.

The exercises sessions are based on several different activities that include: problem-solving activities, “flipped classroom” sessions, workshops using dedicated software and discussion of scientific papers.

Learning Outcomes

General objectives

1. To understand the steps involved in the discovery and development of new drugs

2. To learn about the action of drugs at the molecular level across several theraputic classes

3. To relate the chemical structure of drugs with their biological activity and therapeutic targets

4. To exemplify drugs from different therapeutic classes detailing their mechanism of action

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

THEORETICAL TEACHING

Drug concept. Drug-therapeutic target interaction. Pharmacodynamics, Pharmacokinetics

- Therapeutic targets – proteins, receptors, nucleic acids

- The drug discovery process – identification of the therapeutic target, biological assays, identification of the lead compound. Properties of the lead compound, clinical trials and market introduction. The concept of

“drug candidate”. Case studies.

- Antibacterial drugs

- Antiviral drugs

- Antitumor drugs

- Drugs that act on the cardiovascular system

- Opioid analgesics

- Drugs that act on the nervous system

THEORETICAL-PRACTICAL TEACHING

- Resolution of exercises related to the content taught in theoretical classes. Workshops based on computer software for visualizing drugs and proteins. Discussion-based group activities and presentation of scientific articles.

Head Lecturer(s)

Vânia Maria Antunes Moreira Bimbo

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Exam: 100.0%

Bibliography

[1] Graham L. Patrick, An introduction to medicinal chemistry, 2017, 6th Ed. Oxford University Press.

[2] Wermuth, C., The Practice of Medicinal Chemistry, Elsevier, 4th Ed., 2015

[3] Thomas G., Medicinal Chemistry, Wiley, 2nd Ed., 2007

[4] Erland S., Medicinal Chemistry – The modern Drug Discovery Process, 2014, Pearson Education Inc.