ADispell (United States)

This chapter illustrates the need for more complex models to explain the kinetics and effects of drugs that cannot be explained using a single-compartment model, and the approaches that can be adopted when a model cannot be defined, including the use of statistical moment theory. Approaches to determining volumes of distribution and how they are related are explained. Redistribution as a determinant of duration of drug action is exemplified by reference to thiopental kinetics.

The last 30 years have seen the birth of a brave new world of scientifically conceived highly specific ‘biological’ drugs. The examples quoted here are probably just the leading edge of what is to come in the search for specificity in drug delivery and effect, freedom from unwanted pharmacological effects and what is starting to be called ‘personalized medicine’.