10/09/2014
Pharmacy@GDC -
Pharmacy is the science and technique of preparing as well as dispensing drugs and medicines. It is a health profession that links health sciences with chemical sciences and aims to ensure the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs.
The word pharmacy is derived from its root word pharma which was a term used since the 15th–17th centuries.
Disciplines
The field of pharmacy can generally be divided into three primary Disciplines:
Pharmaceutics
Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy
Pharmacy Practice
The boundaries between these disciplines and with other sciences, such as biochemistry, are not always clear-cut. Often, collaborative teams from various disciplines (pharmacists and other scientists) work together toward the introduction of new therapeutics and methods for patient care. However, pharmacy is not a basic or biomedical science in its typical form. Medicinal Chemistry,on its own, is also a distinct branch of science of synthetic chemistry combining pharmacology, organic chemistry, and chemical biology.
Pharmacology is sometimes considered as the 4th discipline of pharmacy. Although pharmacology is essential to the study of pharmacy, it is not specific to pharmacy. Both disciplines are distinct.Those who wish to practice both pharmacy (patient oriented) and pharmacology (a biomedical science requiring the scientific method) receive separate training and degrees unique to either discipline.
Pharmacoinformatics is considered another new discipline, for systematic drug discovery and development with efficiency and safety.