The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7276 p723
22 November 2003

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Useful for everyone studying for an extended prescribing role

‘How drugs work: basic pharmacology for healthcare professionals’, by Hugh McGavock. Pp v+108. Price £17.95. London: Radcliffe Medical Press Ltd; 2003. ISBN 1 85775 932 X

A pharmacist will have spent four years as an undergraduate trying to grasp the complexities of molecular pharmacology, the physiological basis of drug actions and pharmacokinetic principles. Imagine my reaction, therefore, when presented with this concise volume of over 100 pages proclaiming to describe “How drugs work”.

My immediate thoughts before turning the first page were that the coverage of the subject would be so superficial as to render the book useless. To the great credit of the author Hugh McGavock, a practising general practitioner, a worthwhile read has been achieved, which indeed conveys a basic understanding of “How drugs work”.

The author describes the process of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion in the early chapters. There are some inaccuracies in these chapters, but not many. In the middle part of the book the reader is introduced to receptor theory and molecular pharmacology; the concise nature of the text here, in a strange way, makes the concepts even more difficult to understand.

The book finishes with a description of the use of medicines in the elderly and other topical issues, such as antibiotics and antibiotic resistance — worthy topics of consideration for today’s prescriber.

This publication will be useful to the health care professional studying for an extended prescribing role. The way the subject is dealt with would require an underlying understanding of human biology. It would not, you can be reassured, serve as the only reference needed for attainment of a pharmacy degree.

Norman Lannigan

Dr Lannigan is trust chief pharmacist at Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust