This free online course teaches you how scientists effectively discover, design, and develop medicines.

In this course we cover the stages of drug discovery, design, and development, from the selection of a specific disease and identification of a suitable lead compound through all the stages of improving the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and safety profile of your lead compound to the stage of confirming the clinical efficacy and safety of your lead compound.

We will start by explaining the definitions, aims and history of drug discovery, design and development. We then demonstrate how to select a suitable disease, target and bioassay before showing you how to improve your lead compounds and facilitate your drug’s synthesis. The course examines a case study that employs drug design strategies. We then train you to hold preclinical and clinical trials before conducting toxicological, metabolic and stability studies. This includes attention to drug safety rules and techniques designed to maximize efficiency. We also familiarize you with various patenting and legal issues.

This course is for anyone looking to break into the fascinating world of medicine and drugs. We take you through each step in the process of introducing a new drug to the market and this class will interest students and researchers looking to expand their portfolios.