Pharmacokinetics, Second Edition (Drugs and the Pharmaceutical Sciences: a Series of Textbooks and Monographs)

Pharmacokinetics is the study of the time course of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion. It also concerns the relationship of these processes to the intensity and time course of pharmacologic (therapeutic and toxicologic) effects of drugs and chemicals. Pharmacokinetics is a quantitative study that requires a preexisting competence in mathematics at least through calculus. It is also a biologic study and can be very useful to the biomedical scientist.
At a fundamental level, pharmacokinetics is a tool to optimize the design of biological experiments with drugs and chemicals. All biologists would benefit from some knowledge of pharmacokinetics whenever they engage in data analysis. It has become increasingly important in the design and development of new drugs and in the reassessment of old drugs. Clinical applications of pharmacokinetics have resulted in improvements in drug utilization and direct benefits to patients.