Pharma, Pharmaceutics and Biotechnology Conference

This important discipline combines principles of chemistry, biology, and pharmacology for the design and optimization of drug molecules, using the concepts that underlie pharmaceutical chemistry to apply to drug candidates in view of the possible treatment of infectious diseases. At the core of pharmaceutical chemistry lies the SAR-hypothesis: the way a chemical structure of a molecule confers on it biological activity. Med chemists design and tailor drugs to optimize how their candidates interact with their biological target to modify efficacy while reducing unwanted side effects.

Synthesis of APIs is perhaps the most critical activity in pharmaceutical chemistry. Such synthesis encompasses a design for effective methodologies to produce drug candidates in quantities large enough and in suitable purity. Advanced synthetic methods, such as asymmetric synthesis and combinatorial chemistry, are employed to prepare a library of compounds that then can be screened for their potential use as drugs.

Analytical chemistry would play a critically important role in pharmaceutical chemistry because it provides the abilities to characterize the chemical properties of drug substances as well as drug products. Such techniques as chromatography, spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry help analyze purity, stability, and concentration to reach regulatory standards as well as safety for the patient. Another such field under pharmaceutical chemistry is the metabolism of drugs, since drug metabolism impacts the pharmacokinetics of a drug and, consequently, its pharmacological activity.

Scientific know-how in relation to the metabolism of drugs suggests designing substances potent enough and having desirable metabolic profiles such that there is little chance of toxicity and greater therapeutic efficacy.

Molecular modeling and computational chemistry have changed pharmaceutical chemistry because predictions concerning molecular behaviors in biological systems can be made. This is achieved by visualizing the interaction between molecules and further guiding their designs towards more effective and targeted drug candidates.

This lecture will make for an overview of pharmaceutical chemistry, which plays a very critical role in drug designing and development, understanding chemical principles effective in therapeutics, challenges in synthesizing drug molecules, and innovative breakthroughs in pharmaceutical research.