Book: Essentials of Medical Pharmacology 

Author: KD Tripathi

Edition: 2008
This book is designed to be useful both to the uninitiated medical student, as well as to prescribing physicians. The present edition is oriented to reflect the contemporary advancements. All chapters have been updated to include recently introduced drugs and published information. Latest therapeutic guidelines from leading professional bodies, WHO and National Health Programmes have been incorporated, especially in areas like hypertension, hyperlipidaemias, stroke prevention, surgical prophylaxis, tuberculosis, leprosy, malaria, and HIV-AIDS. Recent developments have been highlighted, notably in hormone replacement therapy, aromatase inhibitors, bisphosphonates, selective COX-2 inhibitors, atypical antipsychotics, therapy of diabetes mellitus, heart failure, acute coronary syndromes, Alzheimer’s disease, parkinsonism, glaucoma, kala azar, etc. A chapter is devoted to the principles of ‘rational use of medicines’, elements of ‘evidence based medicine’ and the process of ‘new drug development’ to reflect current importance of these topics. Another new chapter compiles the clinically important drug interactions. Some other topics added are drug transporters, pharmacogenomics, pharmacovigilance, expiry date of pharmaceuticals, single enantiomer drugs, biological response modifiers, prescribing in pregnancy, etc. Infrequently used drugs and those not available in India are described briefly in extract type. Important points are summarized in boxes. Leading trade names with dosage forms are given. Emphasis is placed on the profile of diseases and drug use in India and other tropical countries, so as to be particularly useful to students and doctors in these regions.