Textbook of Pharmaceutical Biochemistry

Pharmaceutical biochemistry is the study of the interactions between drugs and substances found in the body. Scholars investigate the nature of drug-receptor binding and the biological processes underlying drug action. Although sometimes used interchangeably, pharmacology and pharmacy are not the same thing. As a branch of biomedicine, pharmacology studies, discovers, and characterizes substances that exhibit biological effects, as well as explains cellular and organismal function in connection with these substances. In comparison, the application of pharmacological principles in clinical settings—whether in a dispensing or clinical care role—is the focus of pharmacy, a health services profession. In either area, the main difference lies in how they approach direct patient care, pharmacy practice, and the pharmacologically driven, science-oriented research field.