From pharmacokinetics to therapeutics

Whilst pharmacokinetics describe the relationship between dose levels and concentration-time profiles of a drug in the body and pharmacodynamics describe the concentration-response relationships, pharmacokinectics - pharmacodynamics(PK-PD) models link these two items providing a framework for modelling the time course of drug response. In this chapter, PK -PD models, describing the therapeutic effects of drugs used for the therapy of allergic diseases have been reviewed. Emphasis was given also to the description of the receptor occupancy, which is tightly related to the downstream clinical response. PK - PD models describing unwanted effects were also commented. An integrated use of these models allows choosing appropriate dosing regimens and providing an objective evaluation of the benefit / risk balance.