Pharmacy - 2

Disciplines

Pharmacy, tacuinum sanitatis casanatensis (14th century)

The field of pharmacy can generally be divided into three primary disciplines:

• Pharmaceutics
• Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy
• Pharmacy Practice

The boundaries between these disciplines and with other sciences, such as biochemistry, are not always clear-cut. Often, collaborative teams from various disciplines (pharmacists and other scientists) work together toward the introduction of new therapeutics and methods for patient care. However, pharmacy is not a basic or biomedical science in its typical form. Medicinal chemistry is also a distinct branch of synthetic chemistry combining pharmacology, organic chemistry, and chemical biology.
Pharmacology is sometimes considered as the 4th discipline of pharmacy. Although pharmacology is essential to the study of pharmacy, it is not specific to pharmacy. Both disciplines are distinct.Those who wish to practice both pharmacy (patient oriented) and pharmacology (a biomedical science requiring the scientific method) receive separate training and degrees unique to either discipline.
Pharmacoinformatics is considered another new discipline, for systematic drug discovery and development with efficiency and safety.