Pharmaceutical And Medicinal Chemistry Curriculum In Nigeria

Pharmaceutical chemistry curriculum

The courses in pharmacy schools cut across several of the six departments. This blog post is another series of posts on course content in pharmacy school. From the very beginning of this blog, I always assumed that 100 level courses are all science-based courses. However, there are exceptions to that rule.
However, some schools in addition to the science courses include some pharmacy courses. Some general school courses also included in 200 level.
Read Also: Pharmaceutical Chemistry Laboratory For Pharmacy Students In Nigeria
The course content of medicinal chemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry is focused on the search for new drugs to combat diseases. To achieve this battle, students are exposed to a strong background in organic chemistry. However, this knowledge is not complete without understanding pharmacology and biochemistry course content for these will be discussed in subsequent post.

Year One

In year one, the chemistry of the basic core principles is introduced by lecturers from science department. Most of the topics are coined from secondary school with a little bit advanced knowledge. To clarify some of the topics, practical classes are organised. More on practical classes in the pharmacy on this blog.
Year Two To Final Year
The relevance of chemistry to the pharmacist is usually the first course. It is more of a broad aspect of the curriculum in one course. It touched organic and inorganic chemistry/compound and property of selected compounds such as melting point, boiling point, assay, uses, storage, etc. It will also divert to solutions and it's characteristics such as its vapour pressure, how they react with other matters of different characters and the mechanism of such reactions. A little description of ways of carrying out this analysis will be talked about of which some will be demonstrated in practical class. Elements in the periodic table and their application and the rationale for the classification including some of its defect is analysed Somehow why the periodic table should be left the way it is even with some anomalies with it.
When we talked about the expiry date of a drug product, we are talking chemistry. To understand when drug product losses some of its shelf life, we need to know the rate at which some reactions occur. Other parameters we can deduce from the rate of reactions are stability using accelerate storage test, reactions and decomposition of drugs in solution.
Thermodynamics will not be left out. Do you remember the energy of compounds such as enthalpy? Yes, they are back but this time better and bigger. How the energy of a compound affects its reaction and its environment which will culminate in the laws guiding such reactions.
I remember year 3 chemistry which was composed of structures, their shapes and how they react. They are also classified and the character of each class discussed in terms of shape, reaction and end products.
A very interesting course is on the different types of reactions in pharmacy such as elimination, substitution, addition, etc. Not to worry, most of these topics have been what we are used to in secondary school. But mind you the volume is what makes the difference.
To buttress the points well, the practical class focus on volumetric analysis such as acid-base titration etc, colourimetric analysis, refractometric where reactions are observed for both rate, colour change, and other physical characteristics.

• Inorganic practicals: basics of using inorganic compounds as drugs or tools

Purities of drug products and how to determine how pure a substance is
 The physical and chemical behaviour of drugs in different medium

• Organic practicals: nomenclature of organic chemistry

 How to identify compounds with their reactions pattern
Can we graduate if we did not mention Maria Curie and her findings? No, not all. Radiation! Radiation!! Radiation!!! That the woman who discovered radioactivity died from it will be the first thing you will hear in this class. Have heard that countless times back in secondary school and still hear it today. It will narate a brief history of the founder of radioactivity, how radioactivity was discovered, it's benefits as well as its dangers. We get to know how to avoid the dangers and what to do in case of exposure to the harmful effects of radioactivity. The class is not complete if the process to harness the benefits in pharmacy is left out which involve the ability to synthesise beneficial radionuclide, their uses in pharmacy, properties and how to destroy them safely.
To make analysis easy for a scientist, various machines have been developed. Even though the principle of some analysis has been taught, it is not expected that we stick to manual means of carrying out research in this modern world. The theory can be put into practice when using machines to analyse modern chemistry. The theory, principle and application behind the operation of machines such as spectroscopy examination (ultraviolet rays, infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance), refractometry, polarimetry is exposed to students. The class lecture is not complete without carrying out the experiment in the laboratory.
That nausea feelings I use to have back then in chemistry classes came back when a course on drugs at the molecular level. Nothing physical. Just imagination. They said the shape of paracetamol is like this yet we can only see a round 500mg tablet of paracetamol. Where the he*ll did this other shape come from. We can't see the shape not even with the most powerful microscope. Yet we must know and understand the structure and how it affects its stability and reaction. Drugs are classified based on many factors. In pharmacology, they are classified based on the  disease they treat. In pharmaceutical chemistry, it can be based on pharmacological activity, chemical structure or reaction characteristics. When classified by shape, drugs with 3 rings structure fall into the same category. In most cases, their physical and chemical attribute will share some common semblance. However, there are some exceptions to standard rules which are always noted and pointed out. Their general characteristics are analysed to see their mechanism of actions. Drugs with more rings is also discussed.
A little deviation to atom. The stability of a drug can be predicted in the laboratory without carrying out a physical test on the product itself. Since an atom makes up molecules, we can analyse each atom and understand the character of the molecule. The stability of a drug can be predicted by analysing its state when excited or when in the ground state. This can help predict it's mechanism of action. This includes the characteristics and principles. The different process of testing stability is photostability test.
Somehow along the line, pharmaceutical chemistry got involve in pharmacology by touching on receptors. How do drugs acts on receptors I.e how chemical reacts with biological substance?
Classes of organic compounds, their structure concepts, reaction, nomenclature, physical and chemical properties e.g alkane, alkynes etc. A little addition was the chemistry of selected compounds. And that involves physical characteristics such as boiling point, melting point, etc., biological characteristics such as their pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics properties etc.
The topic on steroids did not do much justice as it focuses on only how they are synthesis in the body (which of course have been dealt with in pharmacology) and how to make it in the laboratory. May be practical class on this anyway. Every other thing talked about here like their chemical properties, function, the assay has been touched in pharmacology.  It does not end with just steroids. Other compounds such as vitamins and minerals are touched just like the above.
Drugs classification based on the disease they treat. For example, drugs are classified as:
central nervous system drugs: these drugs acts on the CNS and can affect anything connected to the CNS. Examples are drugs for use in treating psychosis, epilepsy, depression, and bipolar disorder such as diazepam (Valium), carbamazepine (tregetol), etc. Others are drugs for treating bacterial infections such as ampicillin, treating pain such as acetaminophen (panadol as an analgesic). Their chemical development, stability, synthesis and assay is the topic of discussion. A drug that is used as a model example is acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin). The assay is carried out in the laboratory.
Read Also: Project Work In Pharmaceutical Or Medicinal Chemistry
Lastly, the only course in pharmaceutical chemistry I truly enjoyed so much is on drug discovery, design and development. Don't know if it is because of the way the lecturer handled it but it was worth it. It also includes how drugs can be modified and patented. Though not much on the patenting aspect as that was covered in pharmacy administration and clinical pharmacy under pharmacy jurisprudence. It talked about leads which are suspected products that can be useful in the medical world which can be a leaf or a drug combination.  It also talked about modifying existing drug products to have a better efficacy of lesser side or adverse effects. The modifications can be an addition or removal of an atom or molecule to or from an already existing drug. Most drugs discovered today can be linked to serendipity which is chance discovery.
It also can emphasis on the standard operating procedure (SOP) for drugs suitable to the public which will encourage fewer impurities when it gets to the end user. To achieve this, one must know sources of impurities in the line of production, storage, distribution, handling and sales. Knowing this will enable one plan strategy to contain impurities. That leads to an SOP that follows a quality control and assurance system in an organisation's manner.
Sources of SOP is the British Pharmacopoeia (BP) that provides monographs and specifications to follow. Some of the guidelines inside include physiochemical and chemical analytical techniques in purity determination, identification, quantification of drugs etc. The concluding part is on how the purity of the product metabolism can be evaluated. The methods to evaluate the metabolism of antimalarial, antibiotics and some few selected groups was discussed.
The curriculum of pharmaceutical or medicinal chemistry looks cheap to the eye but is one of the most dreadful.
Share on Social Media With Family And Friends To Show You Care!