ABSTRACT
When you take a drug, you do that because you want an effect – reduced headache, relief from an asthma attack, lower blood pressure, or something else. When you swallow a tablet, the substance in it is absorbed and distributed in the body, before being metabolized and/or eliminated. The science that deals with this is pharmacokinetics, abbreviated PK. It involves a modelling part in which data obtained from clinical studies are used to describe how the drug is handled by and distributed in the body. Clinical pharmacokinetics is the bedside application of this information, assuring that the drug is appropriately used in the treatment of a medical condition.
