PHR2021 · How medicines work 5: Drug delivery

Overview

This unit will provide you with a detailed understanding of the specific biopharmaceutical and formulation considerations for various drug delivery routes, including intravenous, subcutaneous, intramuscular, oral, transdermal, pulmonary, nasal, buccal, sublingual, rectal, vaginal and ocular routes and for targeted and modified drug delivery. This unit will also address specific issues to be considered when formulating and dispensing medicines and the differences in quality, activity and toxicity that may arise from variability in manufacturing and formulation processes, with a focus on Good Manufacturing Practice. This unit will also highlight the innovative formulation approaches that are currently under investigation for the targeted delivery of therapeutics.

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook lists an examination for this unit.

In-semester assessments 60%; Final examination 40% This unit contains one or more competency hurdle assessment tasks that you must successfully complete to be able to pass the unit. You have one attempt, plus an additional assessment capped at 50% of the available marks for the task, to demonstrate your competency in the competency hurdle assessment task. If you fail to meet the hurdle requirement, you will receive a fail grade for the unit regardless of the total marks you achieve.

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

Learning outcomes

1. Explain the importance of drug properties, clinical need and desired therapeutic outcome on the choice of dosage form and route of administration for a particular medicine
2. Describe the biopharmaceutical barriers that apply to various routes of administration
3. When changing routes of administration, calculate the correct dose required to obtain the same therapeutic effect
4. Given a formulation, explain the rationale for the dosage form and inclusion of each of the excipients
5. Prepare common formulations encountered in a pharmacy setting
6. Describe the development and formulation principles for a stable therapeutic macromolecule
7. Analyse Quality Assurance and Good Manufacturing Practices and interpret how they apply to compounding
8. Demonstrate proficiency in fundamental pharmaceutical calculations

Workload

• Seventy-two hours of independent study • Twenty-four hours of pre-learning activities (up to 2 hours per week) • Twenty-four hours of active learning lectures (2 hours a week) • Twenty-four hours of small group classes including assessment (2 hours per week)

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.