Clinical Pharmacology: Anti-Cancer and Anti-HIV Drugs

Clinical pharmacology comprises all the aspects of interactions between drugs and humans. Cancer and HIV are major public health issues and the development of anti-cancer and anti-HIV drugs is an important area of study within clinical pharmacology. An anticancer drug is a drug that is effective in the treatment of cancerous or malignant disease. Alkylating agents, antimetabolites, natural products, and hormones are the four major classes of anticancer drugs. Antiretroviral drugs are used for the treatment of HIV, which work by preventing the replication of virus in the body. They are used in a combination of two or more drugs, as HIV can become resistant to a single drug. There are several classes of anti-HIV drugs namely, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), protease inhibitors (PIs), fusion inhibitors, CCR5 antagonists, integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) and post-attachment inhibitors. This book contains some path-breaking studies in the field of clinical pharmacology with a focus on anti-cancer and anti-HIV drugs. The readers would gain knowledge that would broaden their perspective about these drugs. With state-of-the-art inputs by acclaimed experts of this field, this book targets medical students and professionals.