Pharmacokinetics

Pharmacokinetics may be simply defined as what the body does to the drug, as opposed to pharmacodynamics which may be defined as what the drug does to the body.

“ ” Leslie Z. Benet, Pharmacokinetics: Basic Principles and Its Use as a Tool in Drug Metabolism, p.199 in: Drug Metabolism and Drug Toxicity, JR Mitchell and MG Horning (eds.), Raven Press, New York (1984).

Pharmacokinetics, sometimes abbreviated as PK, (from Ancient Greek pharmakon "drug" and kinetikos "to do with motion"; see chemical kinetics) is a branch of pharmacology dedicated to the determination of the fate of substances administered externally to a living organism. The substances of interest include pharmaceutical agents, hormones, nutrients, and toxins.

Pharmacokinetics includes the study of the mechanisms of absorption and distribution of an administered drug, the chemical changes of the substance in the body (e.g. by metabolic enzymes such as CYP or UGT enzymes), and the effects and routes of excretion of the metabolites of the drug. Pharmacokinetics is often studied in conjunction with pharmacodynamics, the study of a drug's pharmacological effect on the body.