If you were to design a drug that cures depression and the m

If you were to design a drug that cures depression, and the medicine could be taken orally, what considerations would you need to make regarding the pharmacology of the newly designed drug?

Solution

Answer: The prospective drug is to treat depression must follow FDA guidelines as described below

1) Oral administration of drug must be pharmacologically active even after \"absorption\" & active drug component should not get disintegrate with gut enzymes finally \"distributed\" into the blood stream. This process is actively followed by \"hepatic metaoblism (first pass metabolism in the liver)\". The blood proteins such as globulin & albumin should not from compelxation with the drug

2) Drug molecules must be active and lipophillic with optimum partition coefficient to cross blood brain barrier (BBB) to inhibit on \"seratonin reuptake\" or to agonize norepinephrine in the central nervous system

3) Enzymatic activity of the liver on drug to treat depression must not deliver toxic products & should not cause adverse effects, teratogenic effects (in case of pregnant women), idosyncratic reactions, or allergic reactions

4) Pharmacokinetics (bioavailability) & pharmacodynamics of the drug must be according to guidelines of the FDA to treat depression and the \"half-life of the drug\" should be optimum with easy \"elimination process\"

5) The \"therapeutic efficacy or IC50\" of the drug should be good to treat depression and should pass through all Phase I to Phase IV reactions