Does medicinal chemistry in general or knowing the Pharmacophore to be specific will help in the practice of Pharmacists in community Pharmacy ? If so, may you give examples to illustrate this point ? Because I think medicinal chemistry is all related to scientific research and Pharmaceutical companies, not related to the practice of Pharmacists.
In my opinion it is helpful to know the general structure of the compound classes to understand interactions, side effects etc. For example, if you understand, that the antibiotic tetracyclines are good chelatic binders because of their structure, you will remember more easily to warn the patient to not take it together with 2+ charged ions like Ca2+ and Mg2+. Another example are antihistaminic drugs: If you are familiar with the structure, you will realize the similarity to cholin, meaning these drugs, especially the first generation, show cholinergic action, which explains a lot of the side reactions.
So in my opinion it is important and useful to know the pharmacophore, or at least to be able to recognize and know important key elements of the structure. But of course in the time of databases and computers, which are of course used in the community pharmacy, one could argue that you don't need to know anymore. But honestly I prefer a pharmacist who is not just selling you drugs but also understands their action and side effects.
But Dr.Christina, with regard to tetracycline and antihistaminic, the mentioned above data are mentioned with the label in full details. So, even if I don't know the Pharmacophore, I'll be able to mention the same info, just by looking at the label, and available online databases.
Yes as I already acknowledged this: since a lot of information is now a days available in databases, it seems like unnecessary knowledge. But for example with tetracyclines: a patient asks you if they can take the drug with their sodium rich water... is this information mentioned in the labels? So I definitely prefer a pharmacist who understands and not just reads informations. In addition it is always good to be able to confirm yourself if the information in the databases make sense or if there is a mistake...
Dr.Christinia, I hope I'm not bothering you by my many Qs but I found this info. within drugs.com (I used as a database to see if there is a lack of info. or not ) "Absorption of Tetracyclines is impaired by antacids containing aluminum, calcium or magnesium and preparations containing iron, zinc, or sodium bicarbonate. " But I didn't find Sodium to be mentioned as independent mineral, just in the form of salt "sodium bicarbonate" so is there any evidence for what you said. ? Or this is derived from the structure ? Because if so..this will affect a lot my practice
With this example I just wanted to make clear that you might not find a definite answer to questions in databases but due to your knowledge of the structure you know, that the tetracyclines are chelating 2+ cations and not 1+ cations.
This was just one example but to make my point clear again, I think that knowing and understanding the compounds and their structure help you answering questions which are not directly addressed by the information you find in databases.
So Dr.Christina, How can I apply this in my practice as a Pharmacist ? Do I have just to look at the structure and that is enough ? Or I have to know the Pharmacophore that is responsible for the activity ? Like in the case of first generation antihistamine : connecting atom, spacer, two aryl groups, and tertiary amine ? In other words, as a Pharmacist what I should know in more details if you have the time ?
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