CLINICAL PHARMACOKINETICS CONCEPTS IN THE DRUG DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS OF PHYTOMEDICINES IN SOME DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Clinical Pharmacokinetics can be defined as the study of the relationship between drug dosage regimens and the concentration time profiles. There has been in the last decades a significant progress in the field of Clinical Pharmacokinetics (CPK) in the drug development process and the understanding of the ethical and regulatory demands within the pharmaceutical industries. The three basic parameters that govern PK relationships are Clearance i.e. the volume of the blood that is cleared out completely of the drug per unit time, Distribution volume i.e. the apparent volume in which the drug has been distributed to make the measured concentration and half-life i.e. the time that is required for 50 percent of the drug to be completely eradicated. The knowledge of clearance can be useful in calculating the dose rate needed to retain a target concentration. In addition, elimination half-time helps in determining the time needed for a drug to…