Drug Discovery & Development

Catalog description

This is an advanced 3-credit course of pharmacology & toxicology focusing on drug discovery and development. The primary objective of this course is to provide students with an in-depth knowledge about the major steps involved in drug discovery and development with real examples. The course will cover all major stages for advancing a molecule from the pre-clinical space into clinical FIH (First in Human) trials. These include target identification and validation, screening and selection of appropriate targeting molecules, non-clinical safety assessment, PK/PD modeling, clinical trial design, FIH dose calculation and efficacy assessment, et al. In addition to the didactic teaching, students will be assigned with a group project to use the knowledge they have learned to solve problems in drug discovery and development. After completing the course, students will have a deep understanding and practical knowledge of how pharmaceutical industry develops small molecule chemicals and biological macromolecules to become life-saving medicines.