Author Description

Symposium on Clinical Pharmacology reviews advances in clinical pharmacology, with emphasis on how to materially improve the efficacy of cancer chemotherapy. Topics range from absorption, protein binding, distribution, and excretion of antineoplastic drugs to factors affecting the biotransformation and activity of antitumor drugs. The transport of tumor-inhibitory agents across cell membranes is also examined, together with factors influencing drug selectivity and the mechanisms of clinical drug resistance. This volume is comprised of 23 chapters and begins with a brief summary of the different kinds of pharmacokinetic models and how detailed kinetic investigations of a drug in animals may provide further insight into modes of its clinical use. The next chapter considers the chief factors in determining the effective concentration of a drug at a receptor site as well as the duration and intensity of drug effect, citing antineoplastic agents as examples. The role of enzymatic activation and inactivation in drug selectivity is also discussed, along with the general mechanisms of clinical resistance to cancer chemotherapy; biochemical and pharmacological principles of combination chemotherapy; and the reaction and effects of nitrosoureas. This book will be of interest to clinicians, pharmacologists, and biochemists.