Pharmacokinetics and ADME

Learning objective

Trace a drug through absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion, and distinguish concentration from effect.

Following a drug through time

Pharmacokinetics describes how drug exposure changes over time. The lecture asks how long a drug takes to reach the blood and target tissues, how long it remains, and how exposure relates to the amount administered. Pharmacodynamics asks what the drug does at its targets. A concentration-time curve helps explain an effect, but it is not itself a measurement of that effect.

Four interacting processes

Absorption moves drug from an administration site into blood. Distribution moves it between blood and tissues. Metabolism chemically transforms it, sometimes producing active products. Excretion removes drug or metabolites from the body. The deck uses elimination for the fourth ADME heading; in broader pharmacokinetic usage, elimination can include both metabolism and excretion. These processes overlap rather than waiting for one another to finish.

ADME

Absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion: four processes used to organize drug handling.

Pharmacology, kinetics and dynamics

Professor deck 04, PDF pages 2, 3, 4. Course material is paraphrased. Qualifications and excluded clinical generalizations are documented in the Pharmacokinetics editorial record. Source review does not establish clinical validation.

Examples and practice explanations are original study aids, not professor quotations, exam requirements or medication instructions.