Week 7 Post 2

An important part of how a medicine effects a patient is how long it lasts in the bloodstream. The study of the concentration of medicine in the plasma of the blood over time is called pharmakokinetics. This involves the kidneys filtering out the blood, similar to a public swimming pool. the kidneys take some of the blood, filtering out the impurities (like the drug) and then putting the clean blood back into the bloodstream. The rate that this can be done is modeled as an exponential decay graph. With any graph showing exponential decay, there is a half life that depends on the initial concentration of the drug, and the rate at which the kidneys can work. this rate is called clearance.

Clearance is important to medical researchers because of dosing, as well as the efficacy of the drug. when learning about the molecule that has promise, you should be thorough and look at every single part of the drug. This includes how long it stays in the bloodstream and how it is removed.

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