Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• appreciate the intrinsic difficulties associated with developing a drug molecule from conception into a medicine suitable for clinical use

• appreciate how molecular modelling can be used in the drug discovery process

• understand the historical background to pain control

• understand that opioids, steroids and NSAIDs all work at the molecular level

• appreciate that anti-inflammation drug discovery requires a detailed understanding of the biochemical processes that constitute the inflammatory response.