2

CHAPTER

23

Drug Action

and Drug

Interactions

“Just give me the magic pill to make me normal again.” You probably said some-

thing like that the last time you felt under the weather and your home remedies

didn’t make you feel better. You might have even reached the point when

you’d welcome an injection of a miracle drug if it would get you back on your

feet quickly.

Drugs aren’t miracles and have nothing to do with magic although you might

think differently when your nose is running, eyes watering, and you feel rotten

all over. A drug is a chemical compound specifically designed to combat disease.

In this chapter, you’ll be introduced to the scientific principles that describe

how drugs interact with cells in your body to bring about a pharmaceutical

response that either directly attacks the pathogen that is causing your sniffles or

stimulates your body’s own defense mechanism to stamp them out.

Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click here for terms of use.